Take My Hand
by Kawaii Selene
Summary: Dorothy was the 1st person to hold Quatre's hand, now she has to marry him because of his family's tradition! Problem is no matter how much she tries to push him away, he tries his hardest to court her! Will she fall in time to save him from his curse?
1. Betrothed

**Author's Note:** Okay this really nice plot came into mind and I just had to type it up before I lose the idea!

**Disclaimer:** Why am I being forced to do something that I don't like! I---D-don't own G-Gundam Wing! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! –runs of to the bathroom and cry-

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _flashback_

**Summary:** Dorothy was the first woman to ever hold Quatre's hand, and now because of tradition Dorothy is now formally engaged to him. The problem is that Dorothy would do everything it takes to push him away, while he does everything he can to make her fall for him instead! Will Quatre be able to succeed in his quest for her hand or will he have to deal with his curse if she doesn't fall for her in time.

**Warning: **Since this fic is AU expect a lot OOCiness, but it doesn't mean that they'll be way OOC that they'll be doing something that we all know they will never do.

**Chibi Heero –chasing after authoress with a katana-:** You traitor come back here! You're not even done with my fic yet!

Chapter 1: Betrothed 

_It was a bright morning when a six-year-old Quatre was walking in the playground toward the swing. The boy had on a light blue shirt and dark over-alls, he was slightly chubby with rosy cheeks and disheveled hair. His bright blue eyes shone with mirth and mischief as he walked. And heads surely turned whenever he passes, the mothers and nannies powerless to resist his cute and innocent frame._

_Once the boy has reached his destination, he noticed that there was only one swing left; with a smile on his face he immediately hurried to the last swing. Running as fast as he small slightly chubby legs could carry him, his eyes fixed solely on his goal, but just as he was about to reach the swing a girl with long blonde pigtails appeared out of nowhere and sat on the swing claiming it with a soft giggle._

_The girl smiled triumphantly, ignoring the loser of the competition and started enjoying the swing. A little bit disappointed that he no longer had a chair to swing on, he decided to punish the girl for stealing the last swing, sure the girl considered it as a game but for Quatre it was serious; he really wanted to swing! But now this girl has ruined his plans and his day, so he knew that he needed to be avenged!_

_A scheming grin slowly made its way to his lips, very slowly he approached the little girl and pushed her making the girl hit the sand face first._

"_Hmph!"_

"_HAHA! YOU LOOK FUNNY WITH SAND IN YOUR FACE!"_

"_What you do that for? Help me up!" (1)_

"_No! You stand yourself! Why do I have to help you?"_

"_B-but you pushed me, you have to help me up!" The girl cried, tears threatening to spill down her gray eyes. _

"_Sooooo?" The boy taunted obviously not willing to help the girl he wanted revenge on. It would seem that his plan and act would be put to waste if he helped her after all, when the whole thing was to push her on the ground!_

"_You're supposed to help me up, because I'm a woman and gentleman should help womans who are in trouble!" She argued as she raised her small plump hand._

"_I'm not a gentleman!" he retorted sticking his tongue out at the young blonde girl who was now starting to cry, her arms no longer raised to ask her help but are now covering her face to muffle her sobs. "Stop crying, you're annoying me!"_

"_WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! HELP ME UP!"_

_Rolling his eyes he finally took out his hand to offer to the little girl, who in turn just stared at the extended arm questioningly. "Here, take my hand."_

_A smile slowly crawled on the young blonde's tear-stained face as she took the other boy's chubby hand._

10 years later…

"I'm so glad to be going home to Japan!" A sixteen-year-old blonde cheered as he looked out the window of their private jet plane. His attendant, Noin, on the other hand was not sharing the excitement.

"Quatre there's nothing for you to be happy about, the reason we're coming back to Japan is to get you your wife! This is a serious matter! Master Quatre what about that girl you met in the swing? I mean by tradition she should be your wife!"

"No! First of all she's not my type and second I just don't want to bring anyone into this whole mess!" Quatre replied he never liked that topic of getting married just too many painful memories for him. 'Why won't I just ask that blasted girl anyway? This would really save me the trouble of looking for a wife all over the world!'

"I understand that sir, but we need to find you a wife I mean you just lost your 21st fiancée! And maybe, just maybe, if you actually tried to build a relationship between your other fiancées they would love you and accept that fact that you're-"

"I would very much like it Ms. Noin if you don't ever bring that topic up again," he snarled before changing back to his normal happy attitude "besides it's not like I liked her, she was too feminine for my taste!"

"Why little brother? What exactly is your type?" Emma (2) inquired overhearing her brother's comment.

"Honestly I don't know…" the Arab replied with a sly smile on his face as he scratched his head.

"See? How are we going to find a wife for you if you don't even know your type?" Noin cried as she plopped deeper into her seat. "Please Master Quatre listen to reason, that girl you met before is a perfect candidate, she's our only hope and I promise you that if she can't help us then I won't bother you again!"

"So you're saying that if she won't accept me, then you won't force me into getting married?"

"Yes, and I'll just say my apologies to your late father for failing to find you a suitable wife."

Quatre weighed the pros and cons of this new turn of events, he knew that it was really important for him to find a wife as he was the last male heir to continue their clan, but he didn't want to marry a woman who didn't love him and he didn't want to be forced to another woman anymore! Yes after this, he'll soon be free!

"I agree!"

Sighing Dermail loosened up the tie of his business suit, just as he was entering his house an angry teen came walking out of the door pushing him aside in the process 'Another victim…'

The moment he heard his granddaughter's mischievous laugh he felt the ache in his head worsen, he loved Dorothy like his daughter but the way she made her suitors and any man she knew inferior was just too much to bear, especially since he is a man himself!

"Oh, hello grandfather I'm so glad you're home."

"Please don't tell me that you just turned another guy down again."

"Of course not I merely said that I dislike weaklings like him."

"Dorothy…" Dermail called in a warning tone, sitting on the table as Dorothy laid the dinner before the table and joined him.

"Not this again, grandfather why do you want to see me going out with other men? You know most girls my age are not allowed to have a boyfriend while you on the other hand would probably have me married off if you could find someone who will take me!"

"Dorothy, you don't understand. Ever since your parents' divorce you always believed that love never existed and hated all the male species –where you're grandfather happens to belong in-. I want you to experience the wonderful magic of falling in love!"

"Have you forgotten? My mother experienced that so called wonderful magic of falling in love and what happened to her? She was cheated on and left alone, then because she was too weak she commits suicide leaving me behind!"

"Not every man is like that!" he sighed exasperatedly.

"Yes they are! Now please grandfather, I think I'll just be in my room!" Dorothy shouted climbing the stairs to her room and slamming the door behind her.

Just as Dermail was about to return to his food a knock on the door made him leave his dinner. And before him a handsome young boy with a chiseled face crowned with blonde hair and azure eyes smiled at him in greeting.

"Excuse me, but is this the house of Ms. Dorothy Catalonia?" the visitor asked in a cheery tone.

"Are you here to court Dorothy? Cause if you are young man then you are just wasting your time I suggest you leave." And with those parting words the old man made a move to close the door.

But the door never met the frame, because it was stopped by his visitor's hand followed by his head, "Actually sir, I'm not here to court Ms. Dorothy, I'm here to claim her." He replied without thinking as he was too much in a hurry to get his deal done and over with.

Needless to say he was taken aback by the other's words, "Excuse me? But did you just say claim her? I don't know who you are young man and how you know my granddaughter but she is not something that you can just claim-"

"Of course, my sincerest apologies for insulting her, but if you'd let me inside I'd like to explain to you everything." The young teen replied with a sincere smile.

Realizing that she must have hurt her grandfather's feeling Dorothy decided to apologize, but while she was descending the stairs she overheard somebody talking with her grandfather.

"I was six years old back then when I met her, I pushed her off the swing but she got mad at me and insisted that I help her up. I didn't want to but I did."

Dorothy smiled as she remembered the story, 'But I wonder what he's doing here and telling this to my grandfather? Better yet how did know where I lived and that, that it was me?' she thought while "over-hearing" their conversation.

"But you see my family has this tradition that the first woman to ever hold my hand should be my wife. And since that happens to be your granddaughter I came here to ask for her hand."

"WHAT?!"

Hearing the reaction from the stairway they looked up to see and fuming Dorothy making her way down toward the visitor, but with her grandfather standing between them.

"Listen you sick bastard, I don't know who you are, how you knew about the boy at the swing but one thing I'm sure of is that you are nothing but a perverted stalker who wants to have his way by making this stupid plan 'of marrying the first girl to hold your hand'!"

"Excuse me? I was not making that up, why do you think I never wanted to help you? Because I didn't want to end up with someone as ugly as you, and I still don't but this stupid tradition is the only reason why I'm here!"

"Then make something up, just like what you're doing right now!"

"Unlike you I don't escape unwanted things with cowardly lies!"

"Unwanted thing? Listen here I'm one of the most wanted females in this town!"

"You've got to be kidding me? What did you do, drug them all?"

"That's it!" Dorothy cried as she pushed the young man out of their house, "So you think I'm ugly and not worth your time, huh? Then by all means, no one is forcing you to stay here and court me! So get out! Get out!"

But Quatre stayed firm, holding onto whatever he could –Dermail and the couch- so he wouldn't budge. He couldn't let a girl overpower him! That was an insult to his pride! "No! As much as I don't want to, I have to marry you or else my line will never be continued! Stop pushing me!"

"The both of you stop right now! I came home hoping for a peaceful night's rest but I'm beginning to think that it's just impossible!" Dermail cried rubbing his temples, successfully stopping the wrestling teens in front of him.

An awkward silence settled among them as they all found the ground interesting; finally Dermail thought to offer the two some compromise.

"Listen Mister Quatre, the decision of Dorothy getting married is not for me to decide but hers. If you want you are free to court her here--"

"NO! There's no way I'll accept your courtship and even if you do court me then my answer is still no!" Dorothy answered turning away. "I mean honestly why would I fall for a scrawny man like you? Just because you're handsome doesn't mean I'll go head over heels for you, unlike other pathetic women I completely do not believe in love!"

Just as Quatre thought of a witty reply that he was sure would make the other fume a better idea came into his mind in which he was sure would make her hate him more.

'Well this is new…I bet this is going to be fun…I better start making her fall in love with me…' with a smirk he grabbed Dorothy by the arm lightly yet firmly to stop her from walking away, "Then I'll make you believe in love."

**Author's Note:** Oooohhhh, a cliffie…so what happens now? How will Quatre make Dorothy believe in love? And what's so important with Quatre getting married? And what about the mentioned curse in the summary? If you want these questions answered…tune in for the following chapters.

Okay it's not that funny, but it'll get better and I'm going to post this right away or else Chibi Heero might try to destroy it or something. Oh and about the bad grammar in the first part of the story, well you can't expect toddlers to speak good English.3

Please remember that they are still kids, so grammar isn't their strongest points. I mean you can't expect toddlers to speak fluently, yet, right?

I don't know the names of Quatre's 40 sisters…so I'm free to make it up right?

**Chibi Heero: **Get back here I'm not done with you yet!

**Kawaii Authoress** -running-: Please review and save my life or I might not continue this! TASUKETE!

**Chibi Heero:** So here's my question will the authoress survive me? I think not!


	2. Let the Romance Begin

**Author's Note: **Well, summer is here for me, now! WHEE! So, I have more time to write fics, and more fics to bombard my beta with! I don't know why, but I don't usually send my first chapters to my beta, so if you find a BIG improvement in grammar, that's all thanks to my beta! 

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _flashback_

**Timeline: **To avoid confusion, timeline is in this century )

**Kawaii Authoress: **I'm so happy! I got lots of reviews for my first chappie!

**Chibi Heero: **You only had nine reviews!

**Kawaii Authoress: **So? In my other story, I only got one review per chapter. This one is a big improvement!

**Chibi Heero: **Whatever! This story sucks!

**Chibi Quatre: **You're just being mean because this story isn't about you!

**Chibi Heero: **Shut up, brat! Haha, the reviewers called you a brat!

**Chibi Quatre: **I am not a brat! I was six years old back then! How do you expect me to act! You can't expect a six-year-old to behave! I mean, what about you? I bet when you were six, you made your parents suffer!

**Chibi Heero: **When I was six, I was learning how to use a gun.

**Chibi Quatre: **O O

**Chibi Heero: **Okay, he's a brat. We get it! Can we please just get this over with?

**Kawaii Authoress: **Ever heard of the term, "Patience is a virtue"?

**Chibi Heero points a gun at Authoress:** Ever heard of the term, "Omae wa korosu"?

**Kawaii Authoress gulps:** O-on w-with t-the f-fic!

**Chapter 2: Let the Romance Begin**

"Dorothy. Hey, are you okay? You seemed so annoyed earlier…"

"I'm all right, Relena. It's just that my grandfather is playing matchmaker again," Dorothy replied with irritation, resting her head on her arms. Relena chuckled softly as she flipped a few stray strands of her hair out her face. She could tell Dorothy was peeved.

"Tell me how your grandfather is playing matchmaker, again?"

"You like making me suffer, don't you?" An innocent smile from Relena was her reply. "Well, this time, he allowed the guy to court me! I have no right to throw him out!"

"Well, who is the unfortunate victim? A guy from school?" a voice piped up. A girl with wavy blue hair by the name of Hilde strolled over to the two.

"No, I don't even **know** the guy! He's just... He's got this weird story – " The blonde-haired girl trailed off into silence as she recalled the words she and Quatre had exchanged the night before.

_"Oh, and Dorothy? I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about our engagement." _

"Puh-lease! it's not like I want anyone to know that I'm engaged to you! Especially when it's because of your stupid story! That is going to destroy my reputation!"

"I didn't know that hoping to be an old maid was a reputation to be proud of."

Needless to say after that little remark she had ended up chasing her suitor out of the house.

"Well, just what **was** the weird story?" Hilde pressed for details when she spotted Dorothy absently fuming in the direction of the blackboard.

"Huh? Oh... Umm, it's nothing. But, I promise that guy will never get me!"

"How are you going to do that? I mean, it's not like you're allowed to kick him out, remember?"

"Relena, I'm surprised at you! You should never underestimate me," Dorothy said, a mock hurt expression stitched over face. Her mouth twitched, and then she gave in and laughed with glee. "I'm going to make him regret the day he entered my house."

At five o'clock on the dot, Quatre arrived with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. 'No girl can resist flowers and chocolates...' he thought confidently, walking towards the door. He juggled the gifts so that he could turn the knob. "What the...? It's locked!"

The young male hammered on the door. "Dorothy! I know you're in there! Let me in! Dorothy!"

On the other side of the door, a blonde girl smirked in triumph. 'Grandfather told me not to **kick** him out. He never once told me that I can't **lock** him out.'

"Dorothy, let me in! I'm telling Dermail!" a slightly muffled voice shouted.

"What are you going to tell him, huh? I didn't kick you out!"

"You're not letting me in, either!"

"Exactly my point! Now, you can bang on the door all you want. I'm not going to let you in! So, if you don't mind, I have some homework to do," Dorothy called out smugly as she headed for the stairs, leaving the indignant boy behind.

"Smart, very smart," Quatre whispered, wiping his forehead with a swollen palm. He was locked outside and it was getting hot. 'I'll just have to find a way to get in myself!'

For the past half hour, Dorothy had tried to focus on her homework. Somehow, her mind kept wandering back to Quatre and her little victory over him. 'He **must** have gone home by now,' she concluded.

Sighing, she once again tried to find the value of x by using the quadratic formula. "Two x squared plus three x minus five is…"

"X is equal to one and negative five over two," a voice responded.

"Hey, that's right!" she exclaimed, scribbling down the answer. She froze when she realized whose voice it was and turned around slowly.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" she screeched. "How in the world did you get in here!"

"Through the window, of course! I wanted to give you these flowers and chocolates."

"I hate flowers and I don't like sweets," she retorted, not bothering to spare a glance at the items as she re–took her seat. Quatre just shrugged and sat down on the bed, waiting patiently for her to finish.

Quatre began to get bored shortly. Getting to his feet, he walked over to where the other blonde was working and glanced at her page. She was trying to derive the quadratic formula using the formula for completing the square.

"I can help you with that."

"Oh, you're still here?"

"Do you want my help or not?" he challenged, grabbing a chair and seating himself next to her.

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" she inquired, gray eyes narrowed in his direction.

"Fine, fine. I just wanted you to have the flowers and the chocolates." Quatre stood up from the chair and headed for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the door," he said slowly, giving her an odd look.

"You came in by the window; I think you can leave by the window!"

"What? But I pushed the ladder away!"

"Not **my** problem. Now, get out! You're starting to pollute my air! Oh, and in case your small brain wasn't able to comprehend this, there is absolutely no way I'll ever **willingly** let you in this house!"

An adorable pout on his face, Quatre slowly climbed out of the window. He put his legs down first so that he could find a ledge to stand on.

Dorothy strolled over to the window with the presents in hand. Smiling maliciously, she reached out past him and opened her hands. The gifts plummeted. "Don't forget your trash."

Unperturbed by her actions, Quatre merely watched the flowers and chocolates strike the ground with a calm face. Then, he returned his gaze to his fiancée. "Koi, how about a kiss?"

'Koi! Kiss!' Dorothy was taken aback by the question. She blinked at him in surprise. 'Didn't I just make it clear that I don't want anything to do with him? What is with this guy?'

Realizing she was caught in a state of shock, Quatre seized the opportunity. He darted forward and brushed his lips against her cheeks. Before she could respond, he pushed off and landed neatly on the ground. He jogged over to his Lexus, climbed in, tossed her a wave, and sped away.

Dorothy remained in a trance-like state, her mouth open slightly. She touched the cheek that had received Quatre's kiss with trembling fingers. No one had ever kissed her like that before. Heck, no one even dared to think about doing so. Everyone was aware that if they did, Dorothy would happily have their throats slit. Somehow, it wasn't hard to imagine that her threat would be difficult for her to accomplish.

Yet... Someone had thought about it; had even done it. And she had not even thought about pushing him away. Because she had enjoyed it.

**Author's Note: **I understand how people can't picture Quatre as a brat, but that's only because he was a baby back then. I mean, toddlers will always be like that. It's kind of like the "Terrible Two's" stage. It's hard to imagine Quatre like that, but he's only human and he goes through the same stages as the rest of us! But don't worry, he's not a brat anymore.

Short, I know, but it's just supposed to be a teaser. If I get more reviews, you get more juicy chappies!

**Reply to Reviews:**

**f U n N i E b O n E s 2K-**You're my first reviewer! And you happen to be one of my favorite authors! You saying that it's cute is such a big compliment for me since I really love your works! I hope you think that this chapter is cute as well, and don't worry there's more

**iceland-** Don't worry Quatre won't be a brat forever in my fic, and as I explained earlier he was only six years old back then. And yes I agree with you it will be interesting to see Quatre try to make Dorothy fall in love with him, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.

**huntressvenus-** thank you for thinking so...it just makes me so happy to know that people find my story cute. It really inspires me to write more!

**lor-** Quatre indeed looks like an angel, but don't worry I'm not trying to make him look like a brat, just a persuasive suitor. ;)

**tsuonae-** Yes I agree with you, I really like this pairing because they look good together and you can do humor on them! It's so hard not to fall for this pairing:D They're made for each otherl. Thank you for liking this story.

**Gigglegal-** a very cute name ;) yes things are getting interesting for the both of them now that Quatre's started his courting and now that Dorothy has started pushing him away. And don't worry the future holds many things for those two, I'll make sure of that snickers

** . Cat-** I'm glad you think that it's cute, and don't worry I have no plans of not continuing this fic.

**arcie-** Thank you so much for thinking that it's great, that really means that you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed this one too now that the courting has begun.


	3. Dinner

**Author's Note: ** Thanks again to those who reviewed my fic. I am so sorry for the late update! I was just busy doing a lot of things. But, no more neglecting... After all, I really like this story. I hope you guys like and enjoy it too!

**Chibi Dorothy (backing away from the cute authoress who has a plucker in hand):** NO! NO STAY AWAY! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

**Kawaii Authoress:** Yeah...just a little note...in all my Quatre/Dorothy fics you can be sure that her eyebrows has been properly plucked. ;) Thank you.

**Legend: ** "speech" 'thought'

**Chapter 3: Dinner**

"Let me guess. Your plan backfired."

"Shut it, Relena!" Dorothy snapped, not sparing a glance for the other girl as she stalked towards her homeroom. Hilde and Relena hurried to catch up.

"All right, Dorothy, spill! Just how did your 'foolproof plan' go wrong?" Hilde questioned, a hint of amusement glimmering in her eyes. Never in her life had she seen her best friend get so upset when it came to a suitor. Normally, it was the suitor who got annoyed.

"Well... I thought he'd give in and get the point after I locked him out of the house, but then – "

"You locked him out of the house!" Relena exclaimed, utterly shocked by her friend's surprising actions.

"Will you _please_ let me finish? Anyway, as I was saying, I thought he had left because I couldn't hear him banging on my door anymore. But, then he shows up in my ROOM! My room! Apparently, he climbed in through my window! So, I told him that he could leave through the window as well."

"So, what's the problem? I mean, you were still able to kick him out," Hilde sighed.

"The jerk had the nerve to ask for a KISS!"

Hilde and Relena gave one another a Look. Perhaps this situation was a bit more serious than they had thought. No guy had ever had enough courage to ask for a kiss before. 

"You know what's worst? He kissed me on my cheek!" Dorothy muttered in a hushed tone, her voice reflecting a touch of sadness. 

"That _is_ bad." Relena murmured. "Well, I know what can make you feel better.."

"Oh, please, Relena! You're worrying way too much! Don't act so desperate, Dorothy," Hilde said, looking annoyed. "It was just a little kiss. It's not like he raped you or something! Sheesh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the only reason it's bothering you so much is that he didn't kiss you on the mouth."

"Hilde, don't be like that. Maybe Dorothy DID enjoy the kiss, but the reason she's so tormented is that she isn't supposed to enjoy it. It's totally against her beliefs!" Dorothy flashed a glare at Relena for this comment, but it was ignored. 

"You're right, I guess. Alright, so what were you planning?" 

"Where _else_ can a girl find sanctuary?" asked Relena, giving them both a mischievous smile. 

SsSsSsSsSsSsS 

By nine o'clock that evening, Dorothy and her two best friends were laughing so hard that they could barely walk correctly. As they moved towards Dorothy's house, their laughter caused quite a few curious gazes. 

"Relena, you were so right! Nothing beats the carnival!" Dorothy cried contently as she cuddled the stuffed blue giraffe she had proudly won at the ring toss. 

Immediately after school had ended, the girls had gone to the carnival. By the time they left, the owner was eagerly escorting them out because of how many prizes they had won. He was afraid they would put the carnival out of business if the girls stayed any longer. 

"I really have to hand it to you. Nothing can make a girl feel better than winning against a bunch of men who thought they were superior!" Hilde giggled, nearly tripping over her own two feet. 

"The rides were fun, too!" Relena pointed as she recalled with a proud smile of how she had lost her dinner after one particularly wild ride – a supper that had consisted mainly of cotton candy. 

"Please, don't remind me – " Hilde began to moan. She stopped suddenly and blinked. "Dorothy, who's that leaning against your door?" She inspected the figure curled up on the Catalonia doorstep with great interest. 

"Who is he?" Relena repeated as she bent down and poked curiously at the sleeping figure. The body stirred, slowly returning to consciousness. 

"Nobody," Dorothy muttered crossly, reaching for the knob. She swung the door inward and watched with great satisfaction as the stranger tumbled backwards. 

"DOROTHY!" Relena exclaimed in time with the fallen teen's shout. She gave her friend a scolding look. "What's the matter with you?" 

Dorothy didn't bother to reply as the boy stood and dusted himself off very carefully. Once he seemed sure that all specks of dust were gone, he threw his arms around the blonde girl and pulled her close. Laying his cheek on her head, he inhaled her sweet scent, as if trying to memorize it. 

"Where have you been?" he asked, concern lacing his tone. "I was worried. I'm glad that you've made it home safely." 

Relena and Hilde looked at one another with wide, gaping eyes. Never before had a suitor gotten this close to their friend. 

"Could you guys please just shut it? You look like fishes!" Dorothy huffed as she jerked out of his comforting embrace. Immediately, she felt guilty for doing so, and crossly banished the emotions. 

Re-gaining their composure, the two girls snapped out of their stupor and introduced themselves. "You must be Quatre," said Relena, trying to hide a grin. "I'm Relena, and this is Hilde. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Hilde smiled at him. "We're sorry about keeping Dorothy away," she said. "She didn't tell us that you two had something planned." 

"Shut up, Hilde!" She turned an infuriated gaze upon Quatre, who merely smiled at her. "Listen here, you, I do not need your permission to go somewhere with my friends. I will do whatever I want with my life whenever I please. And just what do you think you are doing here, anyway? I thought I told you that I didn't ever want to see you around here again!"

"I was just worried about you," Quatre commented, looking wounded. "Is that so very wrong? Do you have any idea how much it hurts me not to see your beautiful face, even if just for a minute? I will die if I can't gaze upon your beauty for an entire day." 

"If that's the case, then I'll gladly lock myself up in a room for forty-eight hours, just to be sure! Stop _staring_ at me!"

"Yo, lover-boy!" Hilde shouted as she climbed into the car. She and Relena had slipped away while the couple argued. "Take a picture," she laughed and revved up the car, "It'll last longer!"

"That's a great idea," beamed Quatre as the car sped away. He grabbed Dorothy by the arm and pulled her close to him. From his right pocket came a camera that he held up before them. "Say cheese!" 

A minute later, the camera obediently printed out a picture of the two. Quatre picked it up and examined it. "You know, sweetheart, you would look much more pleasant if you smiled. But I like this picture, anyway." 

Dorothy just stared at him, trying to catch up with his quick movements. One moment they had been bickering, the next taking picture like they were... like they were lovers! Her fist clenched and her eyes flashed as she prepared to give Quatre a piece of her mind. 

BONG! BONG! BONG! 

"Oh no! Grandfather will be home soon! I have to cook dinner!" she turned away from Quatre and rushed into the house, heading for the kitchen. Quatre followed after closing the door and taking his shoes off. 

Dorothy directed a cross look towards him as she lifted a plate down. "What do you think you're doing?" 

"I am going to help you, my love." 

She growled under her breath. "The name is Dorothy, not 'my love' or 'sweetheart', and if you want to help so bad than you can do the table then _leave_!" She threw a plate at him and watched with mild disappointment as he caught it. 

Quatre sighed to himself in contentment as he laid the last fork on the table. Purposely, he had set three places instead of two, knowing that Dorothy's grandfather would be home before long and would insist on his staying. 

His eyes strayed to Dorothy as she chopped vegetables for a salad and twinkled with mischief. Quietly, he approached her and laid a hand on her wrist to pull her into a hug. However, the second Dorothy felt the touch on her wrist she yanked away and scrambled for the first weapon she could get her hands on. 

"Love, what are you doing?" Quatre asked, doing his best not to laugh as Dorothy held the cucumbers above her head in a defensive stance. 

Dorothy glowered at him, determined to stand her ground and not be intimidated by a man. "Just because you've weaseled your way into having supper with us doesn't mean you can court me! So don't even think about touching me in any way... or else!" She waved the cucumbers threateningly. 

"Or else... what? You'll slice my throat open with a cucumber?" he asked, laughing. "Oooh, no, save me from the scary vegetables!" 

"Oh yeah?" Dorothy snapped and threw the first one, then the second cucumber at him. She watched with satisfaction as they struck his face and shoulder. 

"OW! What did you do that for? D-Dorothy, no, put those tomatoes down!" he squeaked, raising his arms in a vain effort to protect himself. "I give up! You're right, you're right! Vegetables are scary. Dorothy – argh!" 

"I'm home," Dermail called out as he entered the kitchen. He was relieved to be home after a long day, but that relief soon fled when he saw his granddaughter pelting her newest suitor with some carrots. Cucumers, tomatoes and lettuce littered the floor around the cringing boy. 

"Dorothy Catalonia! Drop those carrots this instant! Quatre is our guest and he should be treated as such!" 

Reluctantly, Dorothy dropped her carrots back onto the cutting board as her grandfather led their "guest" to the table. Restraining her anger, she finished the salad and took the steaks off of the frying pan. 

Doing her best to ignore Quatre, she set the salad, bread, butter, sauce, salt and pepper on the table and dropped a thick, juicy steak onto each plate. She filled the glasses with wine, then sat down beside her grandfather (who sat at the head of the table) and across from Quatre. 

"Okay, Dorothy, open your mouth," Quatre said brightly as he extended a fork to her. Attached to was a perfectly cut piece of steak, 

Dorothy's mouth dropped open and for a minute she was so shocked she couldn't think of anything to say. It wasn't until Quatre moved to place the steak in her mouth that her arm shot up and shoved his away. "I can feed myself!" she half-screamed at him. 

Quatre grinned, his eyes dancing. "I feel that you aren't feeding yourself enough," he replied in a vaguely superior tone. "If you are going to be my wife you need to put a little more flesh on your bones. When I embraced you earlier, I couldn't even feel your breasts."

Later, Dorothy couldn't even remember it happening, but it did. It felt like a dream as she rose out of her chair and slapped Quatre across the face with all of her strength. "You pervert!" she shrieked at the top of her voice. Her grandfather stopped laughing and winced, suddenly feeling sorry for Quatre, who had just crossed the line. 

"That's it! I have had it with you, Mr. Winner! I think you have more than abused my kindness in letting you remain here and eat dinner with us. If you have nothing better to do than make perverted remarks and feel me up, then I suggest you leave!" 

"You didn't invite me into your house kindly at all. Heck, you were nothing short of rude." 

"That's not the point!" bellowed Dorothy. "_I want you to leave_!"

"I want him to stay." The abrupt entry of Dermail's voice silenced the two screaming teenagers temporarily. Quatre settled back into his chair and rubbed the spot where she had slapped him.

Dorothy stared from her grandfather to her suitor, her eyes filled with fury. Unable to believe that the elderly man had taken Quatre's side, she stalked out of the room and fled to her bedroom, where she slammed the door as hard as she could and locked it in an effort to keep Quatre out. 

An hour later, Dorothy climbed out of the shower and looked into the mirror. "I'm not too thin, am I?" she whispered, examining her body with a close eye. Of course, she received no answer, and could find nothing wrong with the same body she had been staring at all her life. 

"He was just being a pervert and wanted to make me upset," she told herself and wrapped a fluffy pink towel around her curvaceous form. She entered her room and, as she passed the window, was startled to see his car was still in the driveway. 

"What's taking him so long?" she wondered out loud in irritation. She shook her head as if to dispel the thoughts of him and went over to her closet to get him some nightclothes. 

As she was about to take off her towel in exchange for a silk nightie, a knock sounded at the door. Dorothy reached for the nightie and called, "Just a minute!" 

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! 

"Alright, I'm coming!" She dropped the nightdress on her bed and reached for the door knob, figuring it was her grandfather wanting to talk about her "rude" behavior towards Quatre. 

"What are you doing here!" Dorothy screeched at Quatre who was blushing at the sight in the doorway, immediately she shut the door as soon as she had opened it. "Go away!" 

"Dorothy, I'm sorry. I forgot to give you my present earlier and I wanted you to have it before I left." 

"Whatever it is, I don't want it! Go away!" 

"Couldn't you give it a chance?" he asked, and after a moment of silence, the door swung open to reveal Dorothy. 

"Alright, what is it?" she said sharply as she held out the hand that wasn't pressed against her chest. 

Joyfully, Quatre plunked a small, stuffed toy version of himself into her hand. Dorothy stared at it, and then gave him a spiteful look. "Gee thanks, Mr. Vanity, I've always wanted a voodoo doll of you so that I could torture you." 

"That's not a voodoo doll," Quatre said patiently. "It's a keychain. If you press that button on its shirt, a pre-recorded message will play. I want you to put it on your bag so that, wherever you are, I will always be with you," he paused, "so please don't use that to try and torture me." 

Dorothy looked blankly down at the smiling figurine and wondered why she would want to have Quatre with her wherever she went. 

"Anyway, I better go. Good-night, love!" Quatre gave her a soft kiss on her nose and darted towards the stairs before she could throw the toy at him. 

Dorothy closed the door and tossed the key chain onto her bed. She took off her towel and slipped on her nightie, then brushed her teeth and combed her hair. It wasn't until she had completed her homework later that night and was un-making her bed to go to sleep that she remembered the toy. 

Curious despite herself, she sat down on her bed and looked at it. It really was a pathetic little thing, not even that good of a replication. But then, what could you expect with plush? She ran her fingers over it, then slowly pressed the button. The message that came out shocked her so much that she dropped the doll. 

"I love you, sweetheart." 

**Author's Note: ** Quatre's a little fast, isn't he? But, I wonder if he means it...? He could be doing that just to annoy Dorothy, right? Or maybe not... If you want to know, keep reading to find out! Oh, and don't forget to leave a review. I can take criticism. 

Now for my favorite part! Replies! Just so sad that there aren't that much people to reply to though... oh well I've got no complaints!

**Reply to Reviewers:**

**Comet: ** See now you know I'm so glad that you left your email ad so I could personally give my author's alert...I just love the way you review my stories! Thank you for saying that it's original. And I'm glad you liked my cliffie. :)

**Ivory Nightshade:** I'm glad you thought that my story is interesting...don't worry soon enough you'll see who'll fall for who first.

**Shinigami's Lover:** Sorry my update wasn't as soon as you probably expected it, but I hope you like this chapter.

**Bunny Sailor Moon:** I'm sorry that my update wasn't so soon but I hope you like this new chapter.

**zoe:** I'm get so touched whenever people say that my story is cute...thank you so much!

**lor:** You'll need to read the following chapters to answer that question of yours... oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOR!

**fUnNiEbOnEs 2K:** And as always I look forward to reading your review. I get so touched when one of my favorite authors review me and think that my story is funny! Thank you so much

So, press that little lavender (or whatever color it is to you) –colored square button on the lower left side of the page and leave something for me to read, okay? J 


	4. Worst First Date Ever

**Author's Note: **I am so sorry for the late update! It's just that I've been so busy lately with school!! But rest assured I will still be updating my story. I could never let you guys down! hugs all her reviewers

**Chibi Heero: **I'm feeling kind today! So why don't you tell them what your surprise is!

**Kawaii Authoress: **Oh yeah this is all for my anonymous reviewers; I'm willing to give you an author alert on ALL my stories (it's kinda hard to make a story alert). So you just have to leave your email ad and there you go- I'll personally send you an alert.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bridget Jones's Diary

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Chapter 4: The Worst First Date Ever**

"Dorothy please try to reason with me!" Her grandfather pleaded to her once more.

"No grandfather! YOU reason with ME! I will NOT go out with that guy after trying to feel me up like he did the other night!" Dorothy shouted as she rose from the chair after hearing her grandfather's plan for that night.

"He was only teasing with you; he wasn't really feeling you up!"

"Oh yeah? Well tough luck he had the wrong choice of words! Do you have any idea how violated I felt? And then now I find out that you told him that I'll go out with HIM tonight as PUNISHMENT for MY RUDE BEHAVIOR?"

"Well you were rude, and the least you could do is give him a chance and go out with him."

"Couldn't you have thought of a better punishment?" she cried with much anguish in her voice "You know most grandfathers or fathers won't allow their daughters to go out with someone who might be a potential pervert! But no, you have to force your grandchild to go out with a potential RAPIST!"

"I am fully aware that Quatre will never do anything like that and he is certainly not like your former suitors. I have a good feeling about this one and I say that you will go out with him tonight and that's final!"

"But-"

"No more buts Dorothy, I suggest you try and get ready for your date."

"FINE!" she shouted back and hurried up to her room.

After hearing the door slam Dermail sat in his chair, he really hoped that he was right about his feeling. Somehow he just felt that Quatre can be trusted. 'He may be weird but his trustworthy. I just know it.'

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"I'm home!" Quatre shouted as he entered the mansion he shared with his other 39 sisters the eldest still handling their business somewhere abroad and 100 servants.

"Welcome home Master Quatre." Rashid inquired as he took his master's coat.

"Where are all my sisters?"

"They are at the living room, watching Bridget Jones's Diary…again."

Quatre just laughed and walked into the living, "Hello my beautiful sisters, I'm home!" He greeted as he gave each of them a hug then a kiss and an "I love you so much."

"You sound happy. May I ask as to why?" Katrina asked after receiving the kiss-hug-I love you gift from Quatre.

"Well…I have a date tonight." He shouted back as he climbed the stairs to his room to get ready for his very FIRST DATE!

At hearing the word "date" echo around the quiet mansion they all turned to each other with a quizzical look.

"Quatre is on a date? With SOMEONE that we didn't set him up with?" One of them asked bewildered at the thought.

"And we didn't even FORCE him to go out on a date?" Another continued

"And he's HAPPY about it?" Another one shouted almost on the brink of fainting.

"Girls please! What's all the racket about?" Noin asked as she descended the stairs to consult the ecstatic Winner siblings after hearing the girls' excited squeals from her office, which happened to be three floors away.

"Ms. Noin! Quatre's got a date!" They all screamed.

"Are you joking me? There's no way that the guy will get a date unless I threaten him."

"Ms. Noin we're serious! He's off to his room preparing for his date!"

"QUATRE!" They cried in unison as they barged into his bedroom.

"Who is she? What does she look like?"

"Was it love at first sight?"

"Where did you meet her? How did you meet her?"

"How come you never told us that you had a girlfriend?"

"Sisters, I think that the right question we should be asking here is, what do you have planned for tonight?" Camille asked silencing her other siblings.

"Well I thought we'd go to this restaurant-"

"Restaurant? Little brother! I think going for a romantic candlelit dinner is just too overrated for a date if you want to win her heart! You should do something out of the ordinary!" Geraldine cried.

"She's right!" Emma cried pounding her fist into her palm; it seems that their little brother needed to know a thing or two about dating.

"Now technically she'll be expecting something like a casual date."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"You really think this is an appropriate outfit for tonight?" Dorothy asked as she looked at the small lavender dress with sad eyes. The dress only goes a few centimeters above her knees; it was made of silk and is spaghetti-strapped with a line of tear-shaped beads just underneath her breasts.

"Positive! I mean after seeing his car I knew he was rich and he's obviously the type that will take you to an expensive restaurant." Hilde replied as she laid the dress on the bed, "Relena you do the make up and I'll do the hair."

"Hilde since when were you an expert when it came to this dating stuff?" Dorothy asked as she grabbed one of Hilde's wrist.

"Ever since before! Just trust Hilde on this one Dorothy." Relena answered as applied some foundation on Dorothy's face, "Now shut up or else you'll ruin your make-up. The last thing you want is to look like a clown tonight."

The threat was enough to keep Dorothy from talking back, allowing her two best friends to just do what they are supposed to do.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Quatre had to smile as he sped off with his BMW, sure his sisters got a majority of their ideas from their fantasy dates and some romantic movies that they watched before, but it sounded romantic enough to work.

'Dorothy Catalonia get ready to be swept off your feet!'

6:30 pm on the dot Quatre rang the doorbell; he was wearing a plain white shirt and beige slacks and a rubber shoes. Smiling he turned around as he waited for Dorothy to open the door, when he heard the door creaked he turned and saw something that made his smile falter.

"What's…with the dress?"

Dorothy's scowl seems to have diminished into a frown when she noticed his casual outfit.

"Um, well you look great! So I think we should get going now, huh?" Quatre said quickly recovering from the surprise; he escorted her into his car and they sped off.

Relena and Hilde could only sweat drop, it seems as if Dorothy was overdressed for the occasion or Quatre was underdressed. Well no matter what the problem was it only meant that their date had already gone to a bad start.

'Uh-oh!' Both their minds echoed as they looked at each other.

The ride was fairly quiet at first; Quatre kept his eyes on the road while Dorothy looked out her window with a scowl it seems that she wasn't dressed for the proper occasion. 'I am so going to murder Hilde once I get home!'

The female then noticed that her companion was stealing glances at her, "What?" she asked irritated.

"Nothing! I was just wondering…why were you so dressed up?"

Dorothy tensed she didn't know what to say! 'Because I was expecting a dinner? No he might think that I like him? Maybe I should make it sound sarcastic?'

Before Dorothy could give out her reply, which she still wasn't sure what, the car suddenly gave out a grunt and in a few seconds time the machine died and smoke started coming out of the hood.

"Not again! I told Nikki not to give this car one of her special 'tune-ups'!" Quatre grunted as he got out of the car and checked the machine if he could somehow revive it.

"Nikki? Who's Nikki?" Dorothy asked a little bit curious as she too got out of the BMW.

"She's my older sister! She likes to tune our cars, but she's not really good at it but she thinks she is no matter how many times we complain to her."

"Okay. So what do we do now?"

"Well I guess we'll just have to catch the bus, come on let's go!" Immediately the blonde grabbed his female companion by the wrist and hurried to catch their bus, also failing to realize that his female companion happened to be wearing three-inched heel stilettos.

"Quatre STOP!"

"We can't! We might miss the bus! We're almost there anyway!"

The moment they boarded the bus everyone's eyes were on the two couple, well more like on Dorothy. 'This is so embarrassing they must be wondering why I'm so dressed up like this and I'm just getting on some bus! I am so going to make that Quatre pay! Why didn't he tell me that he was planning something casual?'

Quatre of course was fully aware of Dorothy's discomfort but what could he do? 'They might be thinking that I'm her bodyguard or something?' So Quatre did the only thing he can to stop the others from staring- especially some of the male species that weren't just staring but eyeing HIS fiancée. He glared back into their eyes. That was enough to keep them from staring but wasn't enough to make Dorothy feel safe.

After a few more dreadful minutes Quatre rejoiced when they neared their stop, "Here's our stop let's go." He holds onto Dorothy's hand and hurriedly got off the bus and crossed the street to get to the destination of their date, the beach.

The sight was breathtaking because the sun was just about to set and orange hues were starting to spread like fire all over the crystalline sky. "Do you like it?" Quatre asked, he beamed when he saw that Dorothy was at awe of the beauty of the beach and the sun set.

"So what are we going to do here? Just stare at the sun set then go home?"

"Of course not I brought us some dinner and then we'll have a picnic!"

"Okay, so where's the food."

"It's right he- uh-oh!"

"Uh-oh? I don't like uh-oh." Dorothy turned and looked at Quatre with an annoyed expression. 'Tell me that you didn't force me to walk and commute on heels and in a dress like this for nothing!'

"I left the basket in the car!"

"Well didn't you bring any money with you?"

"No, I didn't think I'd need to bring my wallet so I just brought a few spare change."

"A few spare change? You can't buy one decent meal let alone TWO decent meals with a few spare change!"

"Look at the bright side at least the view is nice."

CRASH!

Within a few seconds the wonderful sunny view turned into a dark rainy view. The rain soaked everything making the sand soft and sticky, and it especially soaked the only two occupants on the beach who weren't informed about the weather for that day.

CRASH!

"Nice view?! First you didn't tell me that I was suppose to dress casually because I thought you would be planning some kind of dinner at some restaurant, and then your car breaks down and you force me to walk on these three-inched heel stilettos and in this dress! You even made me ride the bus where in everyone must have thought that I'm some kind of freak always getting dressed up even if I just going to ride a bus! Then you bring me to the beach, with nothing to eat, no forms of transportation and now it's raining!"

"Dorothy I think you're being irrational…" Quatre murmured trying to calm the advancing female whose eyes were burning holes right through him. 'She sure is scary when she's angry!'

"IRRATIONAL?! I NEVER wanted to go out with you in the first place, but my grandfather forced me to and now? My feet hurt, I am soaking wet, I've got sand all over me and I feel so dirty despite the shower I'm having right now, I am hungry and tired and now you're telling me that I'm being IRRATIONAL! UUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to kill you!"

At that moment Dorothy has proven that she was a woman of her words, she pounced on Quatre who immediately caught her and was able to keep her from punching him by grasping her wrists. But it wasn't good enough she struggled to her hands free and when she succeeded she sat on top of him and started strangling him.

"Dorothy! Stop this you're acting like a child!" Quatre cried out as he struggled to stop Dorothy from cutting off his air supply.

"I won't stop until you're dead!"

To prove that she really was telling the truth she tightened her grip around his neck, the action frightened Quatre he never expected to die like this, heck he didn't even know that Dorothy had such a scary side. But then again he too had a scary side.

With a roar Quatre switched their positions so that Dorothy was underneath him, Dorothy gasped when she hit her head on the bed of sand, she remained frozen as he pinned her by her wrists. Dorothy never expected that someone as sweet as Quatre could ever hurt her and look at her the way he was looking at her now.

All she could do was stare back at his angry expression with complete and utter shock. Quatre was hurting her with his hold! Quatre would never dare hurt her!

As fast as it happened Quatre returned back to his innocent looking face and stared at Dorothy with a sheepish look, "Sorry about that, but you wouldn't stop strangling me. And I thought that the only way to stop you was to scare you."

"Well it worked, now get off me!" Regaining her composure she pushed him off and they both sat in the wet sand. "Ugh! This is so disgusting I've got sand all over me!" she whined but didn't bother to remove them because she knew that the water would just make them stick more to her skin.

"What do we do now? I'm really hungry and I just want to get dry."

"Oh! I can't believe I forgot, there's a 24-hour shop just around the corner we can go there and I have my credit card with me!"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Half an hour later two blonde semi-soaked couple can be seen through the glass windows of the shop eating instant ramen.

"Ramen never tasted so good to me until now!" The blonde girl commented as she devoured more ramen from her bowl. Her date was just sitting in his chair and watched contentedly as his fiancée ate as if there was no tomorrow.

"Tell you what why don't you eat my ramen and I'll just see if they have a phone, okay."

At the prospect of more food Dorothy wasn't able to analyze the other half of the sentence and just nodded her head and started eating out of her companion's bowl.

"Excuse me do you have a phone I can use?"

"Of course, one moment please." The cute brunette smile in a flirtatious manner before she reached behind the counter then placed a phone right in front of him, before winking at him.

"Thanks."

RING! RING!

"Hello? Rishid? This is Quatre, um listen we had some car trouble do you think you can pick us up from here…"

'Well we still have an hour before Rishid's gets here, and technically we still are on a DATE…' he thought as he walked back toward their table completely ignoring the girl from the counter who kept giving him flirtatious looks.

"Ah that was so good, I think I'm full." She announced as she settled down her chopsticks, making Quatre smile at the sight.

"That's nice to know, how about we go for a walk while we're waiting. Maybe now we can talk about some things."

Dorothy seemed doubtful at first, but nodded and slowly removed her sandals, earning a weird look from the other.

"What? My feet hurt!"

Smiling in understanding he reached for her hand and with his other hand took the pair of stilettos from Dorothy's, and the both of them headed out back to the beach; the girl from the counter sighing in envy at Dorothy.

"Okay, there has been something that I've been meaning to ask you…"

"Ask away my love!"

"Can you please just drop those pet names! Well um I really find your tradition weird…you know marrying the first person to ever hold you hand! How did you guys come up with that kind of stupid tradition anyway!"

"Well you see a long time ago a woman is treated with utmost respect that one cannot even look at their face and to touch them would be a disgrace. The only public physical contact that has been allowed between a man and woman is to hold hands to show more would be disgracing a woman's dignity. And only married couples or fiancées could hold hands. We were pretty strict when it came to the treatment of women.

"When you hold hands it is like a proclamation of love, it is saying that this person is the one who not only holds my hand, but also now holds my life. So the holding of hands became a form of engagement ceremony, if a woman was engaged to a man they simply need to hold each other's hand to make the engagement formal. To be honest, my people no longer follow that tradition now that we are in a more modernized time it's only my family that practices it."

"Oh so you really didn't make that up?"

"Of course not, I'm really serious. The moment you let me hold your hand was the moment you gave your life to me."

Quatre took this moment and pulled the hand that he was still holding brought it to his lips and lightly kissed it. He slowly lifted his face to meet her gray eyes, and smiled his gaze never wavering.

"Uhm…O-okay, so w-what do you want to talk about n-next?" Dorothy muttered as she pulled her hand and face away from his intoxicating gaze, somehow she really just felt drawn to him and she needed to pull away…fast!

"Okaaay…tell me what do you think is sweetest thing a guy can ever do for you?"

"Well-um oh look over there! The moon looks so beautiful!"

Quatre was about to give a remark but he was stopped short by sight before him, they were back at the beach and the moon shone over the shore, the rain has stopped and the night was peaceful. The sight itself was also breathtaking, but what made it more perfect was when Dorothy ran towards the shore the wet sand tickling her feet. Quatre found himself laughing at Dorothy's childish behavior, a side he never thought he'd see.

He soon followed; Dorothy was all ready standing by the shore the waves splashing against her sore feet.

"This feels so good." She sighed as Quatre stood beside her; he slowly removed his jacket and placed it over her shoulder.

"Dorothy?"

"Hm?"

"…I don't want to be rude or anything…but I was just wondering why were you so dressed up? "

The female in question stiffened, her cheeks stained, "Um…well it was all Hilde's fault, she said that judging from your car you're one of those rich types who'd take their date to an expensive candlelit dinner…"

"She was actually right…I was planning to take you to a restaurant- but um my sister told me that it was too overrated. And told me that the I should do something unexpected so I thought a picnic at the beach."

"I don't believe it! We could've escaped all this embarrassment if we haven't listened to anyone else's advice…but I still say it was mainly your fault for not telling me your plans."

"My fault? I wanted it to be a surprise! No way I was going to tell you my plans- it'll ruin the surprise!"

"All right but the next time you take me out, at least tell me how to dress…"

'Wait! Stop! Rewind! Did I just say next time? Oh please don't let him notice!' she prayed trying to maintain her posture as if she didn't just say something that wasn't suppose to be saying. Unfortunately her blonde date did notice her little slip-up.

"Next time? So you're hoping for another date, huh?" he replied his eyes twinkling mischievously along with his smirk.

'What is going on with me? This is just one date and all of a sudden I'm losing control of myself!'

"Stop smiling! You're still not off the hook yet! This still is a bad date."

"All right, so what can I do to make this date better? Oh I know, usually the best ending for a first date is, well a kiss." He suggested, slowly pulling her close.

"Don't even dare! Back off! I'm warning you don't come near!" Dorothy cried as she pushed him away.

But he gently grabbed her by the arm, slowly pulling her into an embrace; they stood there quietly drowning at each other's eyes, the waves lapping against their legs. Very slowly Quatre brought his fingers up to his date's chin, slowly bringing it up; their lips were only a few centimeters apart that they could feel each other's warm breath tickling their skin.

"Quatre…I should be stopping you, you know." Dorothy whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Yeah, but you're not."

"No, I'm not…"

"Master Quatre? Is that you?" Rishid shouted from the other side as he flashed his light toward the embracing couple.

Despite the fact that Rishid was all ready right in front of them and pointing a flash light at them, the two still remained in their embrace, as if they were still about to kiss each other.

"Yes, Rishid it's me! Did you bring the car and some towels?"

"Yes sir, it's right in the car."

"Okay, we'll be right there." Quatre replied planting a quick kiss on Dorothy's nose before turning and pulling Dorothy with him, his hand still keeping a firm yet gentle hold on Dorothy's small hand as they walked towards the car.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

At the sound of a car Relena and Hilde turned the TV off and hurried to the window to watch. "Do you think the date went well?" Relena asked as the black Ferrari Enzo parked in front of the house.

"What do you think? Did you see the way Quatre was dressed earlier and how surprised he was at Dorothy's outfit? I bet it was a disaster."

The two immediately ducked when they saw Dorothy exit the car and head for the house, Hilde and Relena were surprised to see her soaking wet, her sandals in her hands and a towel draped over her shoulders.

"Dorothy what happened to you?" Relena gasped as they went out of hiding.

"It rained." She answered in dreamy state.

"You got wet? So what happened to your date?" Hilde gasped.

"It was horrible." She sighed smiling to herself.

"How horrible? They both asked.

"All in all, it was the worst date ever." She replied still smiling to herself as she walked upstairs to her room and get dry.

**Author's Note: **Again it's a late update, but at least it's longer than my usual updates! 11 pages!

**Chibi Heero: **Yeah, how come you never make me a story as long as this? You're having favoritisms! (pouts)

Oh yeah this is all for my anonymous reviewers; I'm willing to give you an author alert on ALL my stories (it's kinda hard to make a story alert). So you just have to leave your email ad and there you go- I'll personally send you an alert.

**Chibi Heero: **See you're even ignoring me!!!


	5. Help Me I'm Fallin'

**Author's Note: **I'm really saddened by the fact that my best story, or at least my favorite, doesn't have that much reviews. But there's no way I'm gonna be discouraged…so we'll have a little contest!

I will write a one-shot of any non-yaoi pairing for the 50th reviewer...so if you want to be the 50th reviewer you must encourage a lot more other people to read and review this fic. The pairing would come from these lists of shows only: GW, CCS/CS, and Gokusen.

The winner will tell me the plot or how he/she wants it to happen and I'll write it on paper. Will that encourage you guys to promote my fic to your friends?

**Chibi Heero: **Oh please you are so desperate! Just get on with the fic, so you can update my fic already.

**Kawaii Selene: **This is your fault, if you were a good enough muse, a lot more other people would read my fic! runs off to kill the uncooperative muse with a Gundam Zero

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Lexicon:**

Baka- idiot, stupid, can mean more offending words because it really has no equivalent.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ceko, the Japanese version of Coke

**Chapter 5: Help me I'm Fallin'**

"Where are you going in such a rush Quatre?" Cynthia asked when she spotted her little brother running for the door.

"I'm off to Dorothy's house, she must be home from school now, oh…and don't expect me for dinner, ja!" he replied hastily before bolting out of the house with a big grin plastered on his face.

"And why exactly are you going to her house?" she asked as if she really was curious

"I plan to surprise her, by taking her out to the carnival. She likes going to the carnival you know."

"Maybe I didn't, but I know one thing's for sure…"

Quatre stopped in his tracks to give his sister an inquisitive look… "That you like her!" Quatre just shrugged it off with a laugh and headed out for his Lexus.

'I think…that probably, I'm falling in love…to Dorothy Catalonia…' he thought smiling as he drove towards the house of the object of his affection.

2 hours later…

Quatre entered the house with an angry expression and his hair and clothes tousled, slamming the door behind him, giving him the attention of all of his sisters.

"Back so soon, little brother? I thought you were going to take Dorothy on a date?" Belle asked, her head popping out from the book that she was formerly immersed in.

"Apparently, I'm not." He grumbled as he plopped himself on the couch settling beside Belle.

"How come? I thought you told us that last night everything went great between the two of you?" Abi inquired.

"That's what I thought too! But when I got there…she wouldn't let me in! So I decided to climb up her window again, but she pushed me off the ledge! She even reminded me that she told me before that she'll never let me in…but I thought that she was fine with the concept of us going out coz she even let me kiss her last night! She is so confusing!"

"Well what do you know; I guess we really did make it here on time?" A male voice interrupted, his voice lively, Quatre turned to the direction of the familiar voice and smiled at the sight of the familiar faces standing by the hallway.

"Did you miss us, Quatre?"

SsSsSsSsS

"You pushed him off the window?!?" Relena and Hilde cried in unison after hearing their friend's story.

"He provoked me! Besides he jumped off that window before…"

"Provoked? He was only asking for another date!" Relena reasoned.

"Exactly! The only reason I went out with him was because my grandfather told me to, and now he has this silly idea that we're dating!" she replied pronouncing the last word with disgust.

"Yeah, why would he get that idea?" Hilde asked her voice bordering sarcasm, "oh I don't know, maybe it was because you let him kiss you…AGAIN!"

"I don't even know why I allowed him to do that? This is getting so weird! I don't even like guys!"

"Dorothy, is that why you threw Quatre out? Because you're afraid, that maybe…you're falling for him?" Relena suggested as she sat on the bed beside the troubled blonde, but her words only seemed to fuel her confusion which also fueled her anger.

"Stop using that psychology thing on me, Relena! I'm not in love with him…it was merely lust, and we all know that lust is NOT love!" And with those Dorothy took her leave by escaping to the bathroom.

'Could it be? Am I really falling for Quatre?' she thought as she leaned on the door of her bathroom.

She really didn't know what made her blow up on Relena like she had, but she was just confused and sadly the answer Relena provided her with was the most logical one, which also happened to be the answer that she didn't want to hear.

'Maybe a good night's sleep would help.'

SsSsSsSsSsS

'Some good night's sleep…I didn't even get a single wink!' Dorothy grumbled to herself as she tried to carry her sleepy form into her homeroom classroom.

Once seated she immediately buried her head beneath her arms, and tried to get as much sleep as she could before the bell. But instead of the annoying ring of the bell, the announcement tune was played and woke her instead.

"All students please go to the gymnasium for a special announcement." The speaker announced in her soft voice, repeating the phrase every minute to make sure that indeed everyone would go to the gym.

"Just when I was about to get some sleep…" Dorothy muttered as she half-dragged herself out of her chair and half-carried by her two friends.

"Seriously Dorothy, if I didn't know that you don't drink, I would've thought you got wasted." Hilde commented as she helped Relena drag their sleeping friend for the assembly.

But before going to the gym, the two made a pass into the Girl's Washroom and with an evil smirk Hilde splashed cold water at her sleeping friend's face.

"AHHH! Coooold! What did you do that for?"

"Well I had to wake you up…besides you need to fix yourself, you look like a mess." She replied defensively pointing at the mirror.

Which Dorothy followed and was surprised with the reflection that greeted her: her hair was a big mess going in different directions, and her eyes had dark bags showing, her lips looked pale, her uniform was slightly crumpled, three of her buttons were misplaced and her ribbon tie was hanging in a strange angle…and was that drool?

"Eul…I do look like a mess." She commented

"Well actually you ARE a mess." Relena confirmed as she tried to fix Dorothy's uniform.

After a few more minutes of trying to clean herself up, Dorothy decided that they were already late for the assembly and just gave up on trying to make her uniform look straight.

"It's not that noticeable right?" she asked her two friends as she checked the mirror from different angles.

"Oh no…not at all…just that an iron will be chasing you all day! HAHA!" Hilde joked as she followed a snobby Dorothy, more likely to cover her embarrassment.

The two allowed the blonde to pick up her pace, once she was in a considerable distance; the two smiled a knowing smile at each other.

"Well we've done the best we can." The blue-haired girl sighed, eyeing Dorothy who absolutely had no clues as to what was happening behind her.

"Yup, it's all up to him now…I hope it works." The other replied sighing. The two immediately caught up with their friend so that they wouldn't seem too suspicious.

Once they reached the main door to the gym, Dorothy couldn't help but notice that her heart was beating faster than normal. 'How can I be feeling nervous about an assembly?' she thought.

Shaking her head and her thoughts, she took a deep breath and opened the main doors. And what she saw on the stage made her want to bolt out and escape, but it wasn't possible, because her two "Best Friends" were blocking the way.

Right on the middle of the stage stood Quatre, "Ah, I see that Ms. Catalonia has finally arrived. So before we begin this little surprise, I would just like to introduce myself."

"My name is Quatre Winner, and I am currently courting Ms. Dorothy Catalonia here, and as you all know, Dorothy has turned down every guy that ever tried to court her. And since she won't allow me to court her in her house, I thought maybe I could court her here in her school in front of you guys…So I am here to ask you all for your help to convince her to go out with me. And to win your votes I would like to prove to you all how I feel about Ms. Catalonia here."

Immediately the lights were turned off, and a disco lighting effect filled the room.

And without any further ado, the drums made an intro, a lively beat filling the gymnasium. From what Dorothy could see, Quatre seemed to be the one who will be singing, on the drums was a Chinese guy, on the base was a tall man whose hair was covering more than half of his face, and the other two were the guitarists.

After hearing the first part of the song, everyone started shouting and dancing to the beat. 

Dorothy stood there stunned as she watched Quatre perform, he was really giving it his all, 'He's good.' She admitted to herself. As she continued to watch Quatre dance and sing his chosen song for Dorothy. Somehow she thought she would be embarassed by Quatre's performance, but as it seems she couldn't help but feel smug that the guy every girl was going crazy about was asking her and only _her_ out.

Quatre jumped off the stage and walked through the frenzy of teenagers dancing to the music as he approached Dorothy, the spotlight following his every move.

As the song ended, everyone was still shouting, cheering Quatre on in his quest to pursue Dorothy. Everyone started to clap and hoot; Quatre immediately turned to them with a smile and asked, "So do you think I'm good enough to take Dorothy for a date?"

They all cheered, louder, prompting Dorothy to say yes, while others dare to threaten stealing Quatre if she turns him down. Quatre turned to Dorothy with a questioning smile, "It's still your call you know."

Dorothy just huffed and turned to the door, but before leaving, "Pick me up at 8:00." She ordered then left.

Quatre could only smile as he turned to everyone, and jumped in victory, "She said YES!"

SsSsSsSsS

"Okay, don't open your eyes until I tell you to." Quatre ordered with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I couldn't even if I tried, you blindfolded me remember?"

True to her words, Dorothy indeed is currently blindfolded and being dragged by Quatre, and she absolutely had no idea where they were because the moment Quatre picked her up she was immediately blindfolded.

Quatre continued to lead his date up the winding stairway, Dorothy felt them stop and heard him open the door and being pulled through it.

"Seriously, Quatre, you need to treat your dates properly next time I feel as if I'm being kidnapped." She replied as she blindly followed his guide.

"Really? Tell me, will a kidnapper do this?" At the last word Quatre removed the blindfold allowing Dorothy to see his surprise.

They were standing on the rooftop that had railings on its edges. There were small lanterns on the trees that lined the corners of the rails. Looking down she found a path of different colored petals leading from her foot to the center of the floor, where a round table stood.

On the table, laid two empty dinner plates, two wine glasses, and a bottle of Ceko, with a lighted candle in the middle and a thin vase with a single rose in it, and standing beside the table was a burly man.

"Good evening young master, madam." He greeted with a smile as he bowed to each of them.

"Thank you, Rashid." Quatre replied as he led his date to the table and seated her.

"Your dinner will be served in a short while, young master." Rashid informed after pouring their drinks before leaving them so they could have their privacy.

Dorothy smiled in appreciation to Rashid, after he was gone she took this opportunity to look around and take in the sights. She stood up and walked toward the rail admiring the light coming from the houses. The house seemed to be on top of a hill, and they had a great view of the houses around the hill.

"It's so beautiful…" she sighed

"I'm glad it's to your liking." Quatre replied as he stood beside her, admiring the sights as well.

"Where exactly is this place?"

"This is where I live." He answered, noticing his companion's shivering figure, he slowly removes his jacket and places it over her shoulders.

"Thanks, but I'm not really that cold…I'm just afraid of heights."

"Is that why you're also afraid of falling in love?"

"What? How in the world do you connect my fear of heights with me being afraid of falling in love?" she asked incredulously.

"There isn't much difference at all, metaphorically speaking of course. They say that falling in love is like flying…"

But Dorothy cut him off, "and the higher you fly, the harder you fall. And I've seen how much that has done for my mother, and I don't want to end up like that."

"I know exactly what you mean. Believe me, I didn't expect to fall in love, but I did. No one wants to get hurt, but I'll endure them all for you, and getting hurt will all be worth it, because at least for just one moment I felt what it's like to be complete.

Falling in love wouldn't hurt so much if you're not alone, we both can take that leap together."

"Maybe…maybe…"

"Give me a chance, let's both conquer our fear of heights together." Quatre replied as he slowly wrapped his arms around his date.

"You know what; I think this might be our first successful date." She whispered at his ear, and stopped when she noticed how close their faces were.

Their faces, their lips were just mere centimeters away. "You are so beautiful." Quatre murmured as he moved closer…he was so close…

"QUATREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'Crap.' Quatre thought at the scream of the familiar voices, which surprised Dorothy, but he remained calm and slowly pulled away from his favorable position. Turning to his many, many, sisters, giving them the Leave-Us-Alone look, but the girls only returned the look with a pout.

"Quatre I can't believe you! You bring your girlfriend to the house and you didn't even introduce us to her!" A woman with short red hair whined.

'Because I didn't want to scare her…'

"Ah forgive me, my dear sisters, this is Dorothy, and Dorothy, these are my sisters."

And with that Quatre started to introduce each and every one of his 39 sisters, Rashid, Noin and his other friends. "Don't worry it takes a long time to remember them all."

"Well now that the introductions are over, why don't we eat?" Emma suggested, at the same time the maids brought in a longer table with more chairs.

"When Duo told us that you were going to bring your date for dinner here, we just couldn't resist!" Camille added as she grabbed a seat beside Dorothy.

"We just want to get to know you!"

"Oh I love your hair!"

"Now I know why Quatre was so persuasive with you, you're so pretty!"

As his sister continued to flock their house guest, Quatre grabbed Duo's collar and took him to the side, "Why did you tell them that we were here? I just wanted us to be alone! In fact wasn't that the whole purpose of singing her a song and asking for a date in public?" he hissed.

"Yo chill man, it just kinda slipped!"

"That's because you don't know how to hold your tongue, baka." A Chinese commented rather monotonously.

"Shut it, Wu Fei!"

"Listen Quatre, if you want we can all help you get rid of your sisters." Another male suggested as he approached the group, he couldn't help but hear their conversation.

"No, it's all right, Trowa. Besides she looks like she's enjoying herself. And maybe it'll be a good thing, for her to know my family…"

"Yeah, that's what I wanted for you two," Duo reasoned, "That way she'll feel welcomed in your family…it'll help realize that you really are serious about her…"

"Duo…" Quatre smiled warmly at Duo with almost grateful eyes, but hardened once Duo almost took the bait "I don't believe you…you let is slip by accident."

Duo sweat dropped.

"Maybe you should go there, and help her. They might maul her."

"Good idea, Heero." Quatre replied as he released his grip on Duo and headed for the mob that were his sisters.

SsSsSsSsS

Dorothy couldn't help but smile as she looked at the passenger's-side window, 'They were nice…a little hyper, but nice.'

"I'm sorry about my sisters…" Quatre said, breaking the silence of the drive towards Dorothy's house.

"They seemed to be excited to see me…"

"Of course they are, you're the first girl I've ever taken out on a date that wasn't forced on my by them. I hope they didn't scare you…"

The blonde could only laugh at that, they did scare her at first, but they were all very friendly with her.

"You know I really like your laugh."

At the comment the other promptly shut her mouth, and a comfortable silence reigned between them; with the two of them trying to steal glances of the other when one wasn't looking.

The car stopped carefully in front of her house, the walk towards the door was quiet as well. But before Dorothy could open the door, she was stopped by a hand on hers; she turned to look at Quatre's smiling face.

"Hey I really had a great time, and though my sisters interrupted our dinner…"

"I had a great time too, Quatre." She smiled and lightly placed a kiss on his cheek before hurriedly going inside her house.

Quatre remained frozen on the spot, 'Did she just kiss me?' his mind was reeling, and his heart was pounding and he just couldn't help but smile his widest smile that his face was beginning to hurt.

Slowly he walked back to his car, but halfway there he did a victory jump, and shouted "YES!"

Dorothy smirked at hearing the shout; she had leaned on the front door after closing it and stayed there for a while. She placed a hand on her heart, which seemed to be beating faster than normal.

"Help me…I think I'm finally falling in love…" she sighed. She pushed herself off the door and headed for her room, with a smile on her face.

Dermail couldn't help but grin; he had been by the living room, waiting for his granddaughter to come home and _accidentally_ overheard Dorothy's cry for help, "I guess it'd be pointless to ask how it went."

**Author's Note: **Yes, they're finally falling in love! And we also had some guest appearances from the other G-boys, don't worry you'll be seeing more of them in the upcoming chapters. Well things are about to get better or worse for the two. You'll have to keep reading and REVIEWING to find out!

Remember…the 50th reviewer will get a one-shot of his/her own pairing.


	6. Confused Feelings

**Author's Note: **Sorry it's been so long, been really busy, still am busy…Anyway here's my present for those in and out of love out there Super belated happy valentine's and white day?? Forgive the typos and grammatical errors if you find any, I've been so busy lately that I don't even get to send my fics to my editor no more…

**Chibi Heero: **Why do I even bother? It's not like anyone reads this anyway…

**Chibi Quatre all fiery with passion: **That's right, they're more interested in what's going to happen next. I want to know too! C'mon everyone, let's leave Heero here, and let's get to the next chapter of my love story w-

**Chibi Heero gags the emotional chibi: **I told you, nobody reads these things! So shut up!

**Lexicon:**

Ja- see you later

Yosh-all right, okay, roger- when used to answer a command

Masaka-impossible, no way, that cannot be

Mou- a sound used to convey annoyance, kinda like "argh"

Honto ne arigatou- I really thank you this is a literal/rough translation

Sou na- no way

Sou ka- I see

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _conscience_

**Chapter 6: Confused Feelings**

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! That was so embarrassing! I can't believe that happened to me!" A blonde screamed as she dropped on her bed and smothered herself with her pillow.

"Dorothy, please, stop overreacting…It wasn't that…bad…"

"Wasn't that bad? Wasn't that BAD? Relena why don't you try tripping on the escalator that would then trigger a chain of catastrophic events and to top it all off- cause you to flash your underwear to everyone in the mall and then I'll tell you that you're overreacting and that it WASN'T THAT BAD!" She raged, then resumed to smothering herself with her pillow once more.

"Okay, okay so maybe it was _bad _but it's not like anyone we know saw it…"

Actually what Relena didn't know was that, someone who knew them saw it, in fact _he _was the cause as to why Dorothy tripped in the first place. And it was the mere fact that he was the cause and had seen it all happen was the reason why Dorothy was so frustrated.

Had the situation been different she would've simply glared at them all. But that wasn't the case, it happened because of _him _and in front of _him._

'This is all his fault.'

So what really happened earlier? Well why don't we go back to the scene of the crime- er I mean incident? It all started when Dorothy had asked Relena to go out shopping with her, she was planning to buy something for someone for a special reason.

Now you must be wondering why she only brought Relena along with her, in fact even Relena was wondering too. "So tell me again why you didn't want to invite Hilde along? And what are all these things we're buying?"

"Relena please, it was already hard enough for me to ask for your help, it's even harder for me to explain it." She whined as she placed a tray of eggs in the cart and proceeded to look for the next item in her shopping list. "Now let me see…eggs, check, condensed milk, condensed milk? Ah here it is!"

However, Relena didn't like being ignored, so she had no other choice but to find out the answer for herself.

"Just what the heck is this shopping list for?" She inquired as she grabbed the list from her friend's hand, making sure to keep it out of the other's reach as she read what was listed on the paper.

Relena's eyes widened as her eyes skimmed through the list of items and the instructions on the paper. "Dorothy…this is-"

Before she could finish Dorothy had grabbed the sheet of paper and continued with her shopping; making sure that Relena wouldn't notice the blush that was staining her cheeks. "H-his sister gave me this recipe; she said it was his favorite…"

"Which sister? Never mind…why are you going to make it for him anyw- masaka!"

The blush on her blonde friend's face was a sufficient answer.

"You're making it for him, as a p-present for V-valentine's?"

"Now you know why I couldn't ask Hilde to come along…I'd never hear the end of it if I told her…"

Relena could only smile at her best friend who a few weeks ago hated men in general and despised people who were in love, now she was becoming like those people she hated, and it was good. 'Maybe Quatre was the best thing that ever happened to you.'

"Well then, if that's the case then let's go finish our shopping." She replied grabbing Dorothy's hand, and went on with their shopping as if it was the most normal thing to do. She didn't want to embarrass her friend anymore by rubbing it in.

'Arigatou, Relena…'

But what they didn't know, was that in the mall, at that exact moment was Quatre with his other three sisters. Quatre disliked shopping, especially since his sisters take so long and because they always make him carry all their shopping bags.

And currently he was waiting outside another boutique waiting for his sisters to come out with three more shopping bags to add to the twelve that he was already carrying. Of course you'd be wondering why won't they just let the maids do it, well it was simply because his sisters thought it was the best way for them to bond with their favorite little brother.

'Some bonding…they do something they like and I end up suffering for it…and paying for it as well…'

Quatre sighed as he watched his sisters hand his credit card to the saleslady at the counter and saunter of to yet another shop.

The handsome blonde continued to sulk, watching shoppers beneath their floor as a form of entertainment, when a certain blonde girl with gray eyes caught his sight. Immediately brightening his mood, the teen continued to observe his fiancée/ girlfriend as she shopped with excitement. Okay, so maybe he hasn't asked Dorothy to be his girlfriend officially, and he didn't want to rush her either.

To be completely honest, Quatre still wasn't sure about how he felt for Dorothy, and he didn't know how Dorothy felt about him as well. But for the past few weeks he found himself enjoying her company more and more. The whole situation was fine with him, it was safe to say that the two of them are somehow "friends", but to everyone who saw them they looked every bit like a couple.

As he watched her move from aisle to aisle his mind suddenly returned to the past few weeks they've spent together. After their last date, Dorothy had surprised him by inviting him over to their house for lunch. He had even offered to help Dorothy wash the dishes; pictures of them playing with the soap while washing came rushing to his mind. Dermail had to stop them, because according to him they were making more mess than cleaning.

'Who knew that washing the dishes could be so fun…if only there had been more dishes to wash, I could've stayed with her a bit longer…'

He and Dorothy had also been a well-known couple in her High School thanks to his little serenade. From the guard at the gate to the principal, everyone knew about him courting Dorothy and everyone approves. Why wouldn't they, he sent each and every single one of them a nice gift basket.

As he watched her from above he couldn't help but wonder when it was that he started feeling that way towards Dorothy.

At first he just wanted to tease Dorothy, but his mind wouldn't let him forget how excited he was when Dermail had allowed him to take Dorothy out. He honestly didn't know why it excited him, he thought that maybe he was just excited because he was sure the news would completely piss her off and he completely enjoyed the thought of a scowling Dorothy.

Instead he found himself enjoying their date –despite the many mishaps and the part where he almost got killed-and he even got to kiss her. 'What is it about her, that draws me…'

_Maybe it's because she's different…_he heard a voice in his head suggest.

'What makes her different?'

_You know very well what makes her different from your former fiancées…she challenged you, because you've never met a girl who wasn't willing to throw herself at your feet. She's different and that's the reason why you fell in love with her._

'Did I really fall in love with her? She was just suppose to be the girl that will get Noin to stop pushing me to find a wife. I wasn't suppose to fall for her…' 1

_Maybe you didn't fall for her. You just think you love her, but in reality you recognize that she might be the one you've been looking for. The one who can help you, the one who can cure you, you don't really love her, you just NEED her...In other words, you're only using her._

'No, no, I'm not! I'd never use her like that!'

_But you did…why else do you spend so much time with her? Why else did you pursue her even though she kept pushing you away?_

'I-I don't know!'

_It's simple Quatre, there are only two answers. Because you need her or because you love her…which is it? _

Quatre continued to argue with himself, his eyes followed Dorothy, but it was as if he was only observing. He observed her as she finished buying her groceries while she chatted animatedly with Relena, and he continued to observe her as they got on the escalator. But his mind was somewhere else, searching for an answer to his own question. Until finally his blue eyes met gray eyes and his heart started beating erratically and he felt a sudden rush of blood to his face

'Do I REALLY love her?"

Gray eyes widened at the sight of Quatre watching her from the railing above, 'H-how long has he been up there? Was he watching me?'

And when their eyes met, she felt her heart beat faster than usual and to make it worst he smiled at her. Now you may be asking what was so bad about that smile. Well it was because that smile has somehow rendered her into a blushing, stuttering, knees-weakened high school girl.

Somehow she felt like his gaze was holding her prisoner, she couldn't move, she couldn't talk, she couldn't look away, and even worse she couldn't even breathe! It was as if time stopped and it was just the two of them in that mall. However, time doesn't work that way. Because time doesn't really stop, the escalator continued moving, and unfortunately for them-or for Dorothy she had already reached the bottom.

And before she knew it she tripped on the step that went in the machine.

Just like time, that proved that she was wrong to think that it has stopped; it seems that they really weren't the only two people in the mall. Because it just so happened that she landed on the guy in front of her who happened to reach out to the person next to him to keep himself from falling. Unfortunately he grabbed onto the arm of a woman who was carrying a tray of eggs, which she accidentally throws into the air, the eggs raining egg yolk and shells onto the people around her. But the eggs weren't finished, once on the floor the other people that were walking towards the escalator tripped!

Needless to say, the incident had triggered a chain of catastrophes and traffic of people had crowded around the escalator. And all was caused by one girl who wasn't looking ahead to step off the escalator.

"What happened here?" The store manager along with two security guards cried as he hurried to help the fallen customers.

To answer him, all eyes just looked at the blonde girl on the floor, and unfortunately for that girl her mini skirt was turned upward flashing to the whole world her underwear with pink and purple rabbit designs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Dorothy had screamed once again into the pillow. The memory was still so fresh in her mind and it vexed her completely. If there had been any moment that Dorothy wanted to dig a hole and die in to, it was that! 'Why me?'

She then frowned as she remembered that when she had looked up he already left, and she didn't know if she was supposed to be thankful or frustrated.

"Awwww, Quatre, why did you leave? Now she might probably think that you didn't care." Karina whined as the four sat in their limo.

"Believe me it was for her best interest."

"How was it for her best interest? It would have been better if you had escorted her up." Johanna piqued.

"Or cleaned her up, and explained to the store manager that you'd take care of everything! That way you'd seem like her knight in shining armor! Saving her from all the chaos…that would have been so romantic…" Nida added.

"I left because I know she'd feel more embarrassed if she knew that I saw her like that. Dorothy is that kind of a person."

"Oh, little brother really seems to know Dorothy well." Karina teased.

"So tell me little brother, what do you have planned for Valentine's?"

"Um well, to tell you the truth Johanna, Dorothy invited me over to her house for dinner."

"Oooooooooh, dinner, huh? That's sooooo romantic!" they cooed in unison, pinching his cheeks in their delight, much to their brother's embarrassment.

DQDQDQDQDQ

"Dorothy, are you sure you don't need my help?" Relena inquired as her best friend pushed her slowly out of the door. "I mean after all, this is your first time to cook such food not to mention bake a cake…"

"It's okay Relena, I've cooked a lot of other things before, how hard can this be?"

"All right then, if you say so, then I'll be going now. Ja!"

"Relena, thanks for today, it really means a lot to me…" Dorothy admitted as she embraced the brunette.

Relena hugged back, and giggled at Dorothy's sudden change in attitude. "It's nothing, now go ahead, go and win your man through his stomach!"

Dorothy felt her entire face heat up at the comment and started stuttering, she was completely caught off guard and she couldn't think of a witty come back!

"Mou, Relena!" With Relena's laughter still echoing in her Dorothy went back inside the house with a grateful smile on her face. 'Honto ne arigatou, Relena…'

Finally alone in the house, Dorothy couldn't help but feel so giddy, she was so excited that she would get to make Quatre a very special dinner and his favorite pudding all by herself. True it would be her first time to make a pudding, and the food's recipe was a bit harder than what she usually cooks, but she was sure she could handle it.

'I just can't wait to see his face when he sees my surprise.'

"Yosh! I'd better start cooking!" With enthusiasm as her driving force Dorothy set out to prepare her valentine present, the incident in the mall completely forgotten.

She had planned to make Fish fillet with tartar sauce, lasagna and for dessert his favorite _crème brulée_

While Dorothy prepared the meat sauce for the lasagna she started to cook the fish then proceeded to make Quatre's favorite- Crème Brulée. Dorothy couldn't help herself but smile, this was after all the first time she ever cooked for a guy who wasn't her grandfather, and somehow it felt different.

_Maybe it's because you're in love with him_

'Impossible, I'm not in love with him…I have no reason to…'

_If you don't love him, then how come you're making dinner for him?_

'Sou na…How can I LIKE someone like him? I don't know him well enough, and there's obviously no such thing as love at first sight!'

_Maybe you don't love him now, but you've begun to like him and as you get to know him…_

'Stop it! I don't love him, we're just friends!'

_You must be REALLY good friends_

'Shut up! Besides why would I ever fall in love with someone like him?'

_But you're trying to win his heart through his stomach, that's why you wanted to make his favorite._

'Th-That's not it! I don't need to win his heart!'

_Right, because he already gave it to you_

'No! It's not like that at all…It's not like he's ever told me that he loves me or anything, this whole "I'm his fiancée" thing is just a tradition…he doesn't really love me…why would he ever love me?'

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Huh? Oh no! The fish!"

While trying her best to save what might be left of her fish, the kitchen was immediately filled by a whistling sound and some smoke.

"Ah I still need to pour the meat sauce! I haven't even started on the tartar sauce! Crap why do I have to make so many sauces! Even the crème brulée has some sauce!"

Not knowing what to do, Dorothy went back to her batter and added the cup of sugar and the teaspoon of vanilla into the batter-only it wasn't vanilla and it wasn't sugar!

"Oh no! Crap!"

_BEEP! BEEP!_

_Oh and did we forget the oven?_

"Oh no, this is a disaster!"

After 3 hours of complete disaster in the kitchen I am happy to report that Dorothy has not made a single thing for tonight's special dinner surprise for Quatre, except for a fish which was suppose to be fish fillet, the tartar sauce looked like it came from some other place, the lasagna did not look like it was supposed to from the box, it looked like her science project in middle school- the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano, and let's not talk about the crème brulée either since it actually can't be described by words.

DING DONG!

'Oh crap, he's already here and nothing's prepared!' As Dorothy took a good look of the kitchen she realized that the kitchen and she was a BIG mess! Hurriedly she tried to think of a way on how she could fix things, 'Maybe if I don't answer it, he'd think that no one's home and leave!'

"Dorothy? I'm here!"

Quatre leaned towards the door to hear a squeak followed by a lot of rumbled sounds, and footsteps running around the house.

30 minutes later…

"Quatre, you're late!" Dorothy cried out as she opened the door.

"Actually I got here on time-you just wouldn't open the door for me at all…"

"Oh really? I must've been upstairs because I didn't hear you knock…"

"I've been knocking for fifteen minutes, and I heard you going around-"

"Well why does it matter? Let's go inside, I've got dinner on the table."

Quatre simply shrugged and gave Dorothy a quick kiss on the hand before going inside the house. Dorothy just blushed, as she headed for the kitchen to get the food allowing Quatre to settle in. Quatre smiled when his eyes landed on the table with a solitary candle placed in the center of the table, the lights had been dimmed, and he could hear soft music playing in the background.

'Very romantic…'

He settled himself on the table and waited for Dorothy. He smiled as she entered with a tray of different platter filled with things he couldn't identify. Quatre sweat dropped.

Dorothy happily set down the supposed fish fillet with tartar sauce and the lasagna and the crème brulée, but deep down her insides was churning. She really had no choice but to set out the food that she had already prepared and hoped that the flavorings she used would somehow save the taste of the food.

Quatre probably hoped for the same as well.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's dig in!" Quatre suggested, taking the bold step of cutting himself a piece and very slowly took the first bite.

Quatre could feel his blood run cold as shivers went throughout his body, his body had gone rigid and all color from his face had disappeared in a matter of seconds. And for a minute Dorothy thought that she had killed Quatre.

"I-It's delicious!" he announced, before he eagerly stuffed himself with food from every serving dish on the table. He didn't want to be dishonest towards Dorothy, but he knew from experience- what with his 40 sisters- to never insult a woman's cooking.

When it came to such a thing, there were only two choices for a guy like him it's either you die from the food or you die from the beating after you insult the food; and despite the similar outcome, he'd rather die without having his entire body become unrecognizable from such a beating. So he ate, with as much enthusiasm as he could, it was after all his last meal.

"Quatre stop!" Dorothy cried, slamming her fists on the table, tears threatening to fall from her gray eyes. "Stop! Stop eating this food!"

"Why? It's not that bad…"

"Not that bad? Quatre I think if you keep eating this-this stuff you'll die!"

The little confession was enough to stop him from his charade and slowly spit out the chunk of food that he collected in his cheeks out on the plate. "Dorothy…"

"It's a failure! I'M a failure!" She cried out as she crouched onto the floor and continued sobbing.

"I had planned to make you your favorite pudding, but I burned the fish and I overcooked the lasagna…and don't even get me started on that stupid crème crap! I was just- so…I just kept thinking about you and me and now I destroyed the food and you're forcing yourself to eat it just so you won't offend me!"

"Dorothy, please, it's okay…"

"No it's not okay! I can't even cook a simple meal! How can I be a good wife, I can't cook? Every man wants a woman who can cook! How can you want me for a wife if I can't even cook a simple meal? How can you love me if I can't make a single meal?"

As quickly as the words came out, Dorothy immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, 'Oh crap! Why did I say that?'

Quatre stood there stunned, at the words Dorothy had said, and somehow he couldn't stop the sudden burst of emotions in him, the same emotions that he felt a while ago in the mall while he watched her.

Quatre couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face, knowing that Dorothy went to all that trouble for him just so she could impress him with her cooking skills touched him.

"You don't need to do anything, I don't need to have a reason to love you…whether you can cook or not, it doesn't matter."

'Love?' her mind reflected, the word making Dorothy tear-stained eyes look into his calm assuring blue orbs.

He took his handkerchief and lightly pressed it on her eyes to wipe her tears, placing a kiss on her forehead as well.

"What was that for?"

"I just wanted to thank you, for the dinner."

"But-"

"It's the thought that counts, and it's the thought and your effort that I appreciate."

"I'm really sorry you had to bear such food…I was just so distracted…"

"Dorothy, it's okay. I'm really not that hungry…"

"Well, um, I did make some chocolate pudding earlier…if you want, I could-"

Dorothy's words were interrupted by the loud grumbling of Quatre's stomach. Quatre grinned at Dorothy with a slight blush on his face, while Dorothy only gave him a look that said, "Not hungry, huh?"

"Yes, I think I'd like some chocolate pudding…"

A few minutes later Quatre and Dorothy were currently sitting on the front swing looking at the stars eating their 2ndcup of chocolate pudding with strawberries topped with whip cream and chocolate sprinkles.

"Ahahaha…so what else happened?"

"Well at least I didn't burn anything else aside for the food…"

"You really shouldn't have gone to all that trouble…"

"But I really wanted to make something special as a Valentine's gift…and well dinners aren't special without dessert, and well Jennifer told me that you love crème brulée …"

"Oh so Jennifer told you that!" Quatre giggled as he inconspicuously draped an arm over Dorothy's shoulders.

"Quatre Raberba Winner, I would like to know what's so funny!" Dorothy cried out standing up right in front of him with an annoyed look, "I'd let you know that I really worked hard on that pudding because I heard it was your favorite and now you find-"

"Hahaha, Dorothy, wait let me explain…" Quatre answered as he soothed the slightly annoyed girl. "Well Dorothy, you asked Jennifer what my favorite dessert is! If you asked each and every one of my sisters what my favorite dessert is I can guarantee you you'll get a different answer."

"Huh?"

"Well it happened that all of them can only cook one dessert. So each of them think that my favorite dessert is the one they can make, so technically crème brulée isn't really my favorite. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the desserts that they make but none of them could really make my favorite dessert, because they don't know what it is."

"Sou ka…then I guess I should have just asked you in the first place…"

"Yes you should have had…"

"All right then, so tell me, what IS your favorite dessert?"

"Well no one knows this, my mother passed after she gave birth to me so I never really got a chance to taste any of her cooking but just a few years back I found my mother's diary and in there was her secret recipe for her favorite dessert. So I made the dessert, and after eating it I don't know I felt warm as if it was my mom who had made the dessert for me. Soon pretty much became my favorite dessert, but no one ever knew that, because no one ever asked."

"Oh Quatre- I didn't mean to…If it's so hard to talk about it then you don't have to tell me what your favorite is…"

"But you wanted to know, right?"

"Well yeah, but if it's too painful to remember-"

"No, it's a happy memory, to share a mother's favorite dessert. Somehow I feel that it is my connection to her, a bond that we share..."

With a smirk on his face, Quatre slowly ushered Dorothy's face closer to his, guiding her chin with his fingers until their noses touched. Dorothy could practically hear her heart beating against her chest, they were so close, their breaths were mingling once more like it had in the beach.

"Well…you might find it hard to believe, but my favorite is-"

Quatre dips his index finger into the bowl of chocolate pudding, and taps the pudding onto Dorothy's nose, "Chocolate pudding." he answered before kissing the dessert off her nose.

**Author's Note: **Hehehe, I know it's a very late Valentine fic…how about a White Day gift with a Valentine plot? Anyway I really hope to get lots of reviews for this fic and I hope you enjoy it. Don't worry my summer is just a few weeks away, just pray that I make it through the Final Exams Week and I'll be back to my fics as soon as you can say the Peter Piper twister ten times while drinking milk and playing dodge ball.

**Chibi Heero: **Is that even possible?

**Kawaii Authoress: **What do you think? hahakhak!

**1 **Just to refresh your memories, in chapter 1, Quatre made a deal with Noin that if he was somehow able to repel Dorothy –his original betrothed- then Noin would stop forcing every girl at him to be his wife.


	7. Secret Fears

**Author's Note: **Sorry this took so long, that even my Author's Note had to be updated...this still is un-beta-ed chapter my beta is busy with work and since it was my birthday yesterday i thought I could just you know upload it for your sake. So forgive the grammar errors, this chapter will be really long and i'll be giving my replies to the prev and this new chapter's review in a few days thanks...

I think for once I've got nothing to say…so I guess we'll be cutting this short. Oh no wait now I have something to say, here you'll see something about the curse that I mentioned in the summary, which some of you had mentioned in your review. Oh and I'll have to warn you guys this will be a looooooooooong one. Hope you like it!

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _dreaming_

**Warning:** You might find Dorothy and Trowa too OOC here for you to imagine even in an Alternate Universe, but it's funny! Besides that's the purpose of AU to use an animé's characters' physical attributes and build your own characters' emotional and psychological aspects from scratch and make it justifiable! And I love a good challenge!

**Chapter 7: Secret Fears**

Dorothy was currently sitting in her chair, her elbow propped up on the table supporting her chin, and she was looking out the window where she had a wonderful view of the school's main entrance. And there she could see the one person she had expected to see, and she smiled as he entered the gates wearing a white and blue pinstriped polo and jeans.

'Right on time.'

"Well isn't this a surprising sight." Hilde interrupted as she sat on the chair in front of her accompanied by Relena who took the seat to Hilde's left.

"What?" The blonde asked giving her friends a curious look, placing her arm down to rest on the table to give them her usual formal look..

"This." Hilde answered pointing at the once famous man-hater of the school. Relena just giggled.

"Don't mind her Dorothy, she's just teasing. I mean I have to admit that Quatre is really changing you, look at you! You used to treat guys like a disease, but now you're waiting for him to come here and smile at the sight of him."

Dorothy could only lower her head to hide her blush and busied herself by fixing her desk. "I-I…"

"You like him, don't you?" Hilde whispered, but no matter how low her voice was it was still loud enough for the young girl to hear.

The question took her by surprise, sure she has been asking herself that same question but she didn't expect someone else to ask her that! "I-I'm not sure…"

"What do you mean you're not sure? How can you not be sure?" the blue-haired girl asked, completely upset by her answer. How can anyone not be sure of what they felt? Was that even possible? Maybe for other people it was but not for Dorothy, never for Dorothy. But then again, Dorothy's action was proving her wrong.

"I-I don't know…I mean I guess I like him…as a friend. And I enjoy his company, and I really feel happy around him so I guess I like him…"

"But you're not sure if you like him in a romantic manner?" Trust Relena to be able to read between the lines, and to decode Dorothy's words and she truly appreciated it. At least she didn't need to spell things out so she just nodded.

"I mean how do you know [1?"

"My dear friend, you are asking an age-old question to which no one knows the answer to." Hilde laughed as she patted her friend's shoulder and took her leave. "Anyway I have to get going; I have to prepare dinner for tonight!"

After bidding their farewell Dorothy was left with Relena, she looked at her inquisitively as if begging for an answer to her question. After all Relena was an expert when it came to matters of the heart such as this, but she only got a smile. "Even I don't know the answer to that one. But I think you'd better get going, after all your ride's here."

Dorothy just sighed as she got up, "I'll have to let you know Relena, I was really disappointed that not even you could answer that one."

"Well why don't YOU tell me." She shouted back at her retreating form.

As Dorothy walked along the hall, her heartbeat kept going faster and louder, the closer she got to him, the faster her heart went. 'Why am I so excited at the prospect of seeing him, I always see him, so why is my heart going so fast? Why do I want to see him so badly all of a sudden?'

With so much blood and adrenaline pumping through her body Dorothy picked up her pace and started to run down the hall. She was going to see him soon and she wanted to get there as fast as she could! She didn't know why, but she felt as if he was calling out to her, beckoning for her to come to him. So she ran as fast as her light feet could carry her.

Everyone she passed in the hall would turn their heads probably wondering what has gotten her so worked up. What was so important that she needed to get there fast? Dorothy didn't know, all she knew was that no matter how fast she tried to run, she didn't seem to be going fast enough.

And as she got closer, she could already see his form from afar did she start calling out his name. She watched as the boy turned to look at the person shouting at his name, and Dorothy felt a smile tug at her lips when she saw him smile at the sight of her.

"Quatre!" She cried one last time, stopping herself right in front of him; for a second there from her running she felt like she would just jump into his arms but she had immediately stopped herself from doing so. Once her feet were finally firmly planted on the ground, she noticed how much air she lost from running, making her pant a little.

"Are you okay? You seem breathless…"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm just a little bit tired from running."

"Well why were you running?" he asked innocently as he took her bags and led her to his car- a car which Dorothy noted was yet another new model.

Dorothy stopped dead in her tracks when the question came, what was she going to say? She knew why she ran, but she didn't want to tell him why she ran, it would embarrass her!

"Oh-I ran coz um- I- I…I…"

"Ah I see…" he answered with a smile effectively dropping the subject when he noticed her hesitation, and escorted her inside. Once she was inside, as Quatre walked around the front to get to the driver's side, Dorothy answered his question.

"Because I wanted to see you so badly."

As Quatre got inside, he settled himself, put on his seatbelt and started the engine, "By the way, do you mind if I brought the guys with me?"

'Guys?'

Dorothy turned to look behind her and was shocked to see four grinning guys sitting at the backseat. Well the guy with the braided hair was obviously holding back a laugh, the Chinese guy was coughing, the guy with half his face being covered with his hair was actually the one grinning, while the last one just evaded her gaze. From that moment on she just wanted to die!

'They all heard! They heard what I said!'

"Of course let me introduce you, you do remember them right? They were with me when I sang that song for you. Dorothy this is Duo, Wu Fei, Trowa and Heero. Guys this is Dorothy." Quatre introduced with a cheerful smile on his face, completely unaware of the secret shared by the five other occupants in the car.

But Dorothy didn't hear a word that he said, all she kept thinking about was the fact that they all heard her answer! Not to mention they were giving her the _look_. Though Quatre didn't feel the tension in the air, he could feel that there was something off with Dorothy.

"Dorothy, are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah I'm okay! I'm great!"

Quatre looked at her with concerned eyes, Dorothy was acting a bit strange, and she was a bit jumpy. After giving it some thought he unbuckled his seatbelt, "Trowa why don't you drive yourselves home, Dorothy and I will walk."

Dorothy followed without a word, and before she knew it they were already a few blocks away from the school. The car had sped off, and Dorothy was walking with Quatre who was carrying her things. All throughout the walk she couldn't help but feel really embarrassed by what she said! She didn't want him to hear, and he didn't, but his friends did! And she couldn't erase the look of their faces when she realized that she wasn't alone in the car.

So she punished herself for _accidentally_ revealing herself to his friends by chewing on her lip.

"Don't do that." Quatre ordered as he eased the lip from Dorothy's bite, the two stopped in shock by the fact that Quatre was touching her lips and though she already released it from her bite his fingers were still on them.

Quatre, himself was shocked with what he was doing, he knew he could pull back his hand now, but he just wouldn't. And his eyes were glued on them along with his fingers, they were so soft to the touch, they were like rose petals and he couldn't stop himself from running his finger from one side to another. The act made her lips part slightly as if inviting him to come closer and feel the softness and smoothness of those lips against his own. But somehow he was just glued to that position.

Dorothy on the other hand kept feeling jolts of electricity run through her entire body the moment his fingers touched her lips. She couldn't help but feel awkward under his gaze, he wasn't giving her a criticizing gaze, but instead the look he was giving her was of awe. And when he ran his fingers on her lips lightly, she felt her chest constrict and her breathing rasping making her part her lips.

But before he could lose his self-control he felt her place her on his wrist pulling his hand away from her lips.

"Sorry…" he muttered and he resumed his walking, allowing some distance to grow between them then stopped and turned his head to look at her again. "You shouldn't bite your lip like that…it might get wounded…"

Dorothy's entire body froze at his words, her lips still tingling from his touch, "I wasn't biting that hard…"

Once again there was another awkward silence so Quatre did the only thing he could do, walk. And Dorothy followed. Side by side they walked, both trying to think of a way to break the silence, anything to take away the awkwardness.

To be honest they were a bit used to them being like this with each other, lately they've been a little bit unsure around one another. They started doing and saying things they never thought they'd say and do all because they started feeling something they never thought they'd feel.

Quatre wanted to scold himself, like always he had a plan to woo Dorothy for the day but the moment he saw her run out of school just to meet him; the blush on her face, the panting from her slightly parted lips, the glazed tired look on her eyes made the plan go out the window. And unfortunately spontaneity was not something Quatre was good at; he always needed to have a plan, a tactic before any attack. After all if love is very much like war, shouldn't you only go into battle armed? But it seems that when it comes to love, you lose your armaments the moment you step in.

As for Dorothy, she was completely unsure of her feelings and how she should act towards them. Whenever she was with him she'd always feel comfortable and awkward at the same time. Whenever she looked at him she'd feel warm and secure, but at the same time she can't help but feel light-headed and giddy, her stomach doing flips and her heart rate going faster than normal.

'What's going on with me?' Dorothy thought, she couldn't help but steal glances toward her silent companion. She would look at his gentle face that looked confused at the moment. The blonde couldn't help but giggle at the cuteness of his expression, but immediately suppressed it with her knuckles. Quatre had looked like a kid who didn't know what to do!

"What's so funny?" he asked, a bit relieved that the tension between them was gone, but a bit irritated that Dorothy found something that he didn't know about.

"Nothing…nothing." She answered waving a hand and continued walking, not realizing that they had stopped. But when she noticed that Quatre wasn't following, she turned and almost doubled over at seeing her suitor with a pout on his face!

Quatre hated being left out, and Dorothy was leaving him out! It was even harder because how can anyone be left out if it's just a conversation between two people! He felt ridiculous, so he pouted. It was a trait he carried until his teenage years, sure he knew it was childish, but it always worked wonders for him. So for the first time ever since he got back, he was going to use it on Dorothy.

And though Dorothy found the pout funny at first, Quatre prolonging it almost had her coo at the cuteness. He already had childish features, and now with the pout he looked more like a kid- a really, really tall kid. Dorothy just shook her head, smiling she walked closer to him and pecked a kiss on his cheek, grabbed his hand and pulled.

'Works all the time.' Quatre thought with Cheshire cat's grin on his face as he walked hand in hand with his fiancée, his left cheek still tingling from the kiss. So maybe it wasn't what he wanted, but the kiss was far better. Plus they were walking hand-in-hand like real couples do, so this must mean that they have just taken a step up from being just friends. Or at least somewhere close to it.

"So do you have any plans for tonight?" Dorothy asked, a light blush tinting her face.

'Plans?' The question had caught him off guard, and his happy grin was quickly replaced by a grim look, he didn't have plans but there was something he needed to do. But Dorothy had not noticed, and took the silence as a chance to continue.

"I-I was thinking if maybe you wanted to go with me to this place, I hear it's very nice. It's a little restaurant by the beach they have this gig that lets the customers cook their own meal with chefs just telling them what they need to do." Dorothy continued with a rush, she also made sure to avert her eyes from Quatre she didn't want him to see how nervous she was or the blush that was on her face.

"I-I know it's weird to you know, have to cook your own meal on a date, but I hear it's really fun and I wanted to check it out. So do you want to go?" She finished, after gasping for lost air the girl inwardly slapped her forehead when she realized that she had stuttered! She never stuttered, stuttering is a weakness; it means that a person lacks confidence or is anxious. And Dorothy had never felt unconfident with herself or anxiety until now. She had been nervous because it was her first time to ask someone out, but Quatre wasn't just anybody to her now, Quatre now held a special place in her heart and it scared her to death if he would turn her down on her first ask.

A few minutes had gone by and Dorothy had realized that Quatre still hasn't answered her question, and though it was her first time, she knew that his silence didn't mean anything good. Not to mention she realized that they had stopped their walking once again, so she turned only to meet his apologetic smile.

Had Dorothy been an irrational person she would immediately get offended considering she had just made a great effort to ask him out only to be turned down! She would also think that Quatre's smile was just a kind way of getting out of something he really doesn't want to and categorize his excuse as a lie.

But since she wasn't an irrational person she simply tried to calm herself and waited for his reason. After all why would Quatre pass up a chance to be with her, when he was the one who would always ask Dorothy out at least three times a week! And so Dorothy felt like applauding herself at keeping her cool demeanor, so that she would seem unfazed by his refusal. Not to mention for the past few weeks she had thought she had lost all sense of rationality in her, but it seems that she still had it and had presented itself at the right moment. So as any rational person would do, she waited for his reason.

"I can't, today's the 15th, remember? My sisters need me at home for the ceremony."

"Oh yeah…I forgot about that." Dorothy nodded, as they resumed their walk. Though she didn't know exactly what the ceremony was and what it was for Quatre had explained to her long ago that on the 15th he was always needed to stay at home for it. It was a tradition that he just couldn't explain to her, because it was a secret kept by the Winner family.

But there was one thing that troubled her about it though. It was that the day after the ceremony Quatre would always seem tired, dazed, and he would even be injured- and she couldn't help but worry for his safety since it was going to happen again.

She had asked him about it before, the first time it happened, but all he said was that it was nothing she should worry about and promised he'd tell her at the right time. Unfortunately, the right time has not come and Dorothy still has no idea what this ceremony was, but she trusted Quatre would tell her so she waited as patiently as she could.

As Dorothy worried over her unofficial fiancé's (2) well-being, and as the ceremony piqued her curiosity she was brought out of her musings because of Quatre snapping his fingers.

"Dorothy you were spacing out again…you've been doing that all day. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah…I was just a little bit sad that we'll have to miss it. Tonight's their last night…"

"I'm really sorry, it's really important that I do this. Everyone's expecting me to do this and there's no way out of it."

"I understand." She nodded as she took his hand slowly into hers, slowly pulling it closer to her so she could lean on him. She wasn't going to lie, the thought of the ceremony was eating at her, fear and worry filling her entire body.

"Just be careful, okay." Was the only thing she could say as she tried to find comfort in his presence.

"Hai.'

Had Dorothy looked into the eyes of her companion she would have seen fear written all over them, and had she seen it maybe she wouldn't let go of his arm. Because his tightened hold on her hands in his palm had obviously not wanted to let go anytime soon even as they got closer to her house.

DQDQDQDQDQ

Quatre lay on his bed thinking about what had happened earlier, it was only now that he realized the effort it took Dorothy to ask him out and it was only now did he feel excited by the fact that she asked him out. Because of course it only meant that his persistence was finally being rewarded. But sadly she had asked him on the day of the ceremony and as much as he wanted to grant her request, he just couldn't.

Quatre has long come into terms that he was serious about courting Dorothy, and by now he was sure how he really felt about her. Surprising as it may sound, this little known fact had somehow confused things more for Quatre than help him at all.

Sighing Quatre got off the bed and walked over to his desk where a framed picture of him and Dorothy lay. It was their first picture together, and Dorothy wasn't even smiling, instead the Dorothy in the picture stood shocked beside a smiling Quatre. Sitting himself on the edge of his desk he smiled as he remembered the memory; absent-mindedly he fingered her lower lip- the lip that she had chewed on earlier. And though it was only a picture, he could still feel what it was really like; the memory was etched on his finger and mind forever.

The blonde's musings were quickly interrupted though when an angry Trowa had barged into his room. "What's this I hear that you're not going to go with the plan anymore?" he more like demanded than ask

Quatre immediately returned the frame on his table and turned towards his best friend, Trowa was panting, which Quatre assumed from running from Noin's office to his room. After all he was sure that only Noin could have the guts to tell the bad news to Trowa.

"I decided I won't ever tell her about it." He answered calmly, facing his best friend with usual calm smile. A smile which Trowa knew was not real.

"What? Why not? Rina told me that she asked you out a while ago! So that must mean she's fallen in love with you …just as we planned…okay maybe we're not sure if she loves you yet, but we're obviously getting there!"

"I fell in love with her, that's 'why not'!" He reasoned as calmly as he could, he didn't want to get so worked up by anything, especially not today. He needed all the energy he had, not that it ever helped though..

"Shouldn't that be a good thing? I mean consider it a bonus that you're both in love with each other, this will make things easier. Once the curse is broken you two can finally be together to live happily ever after!"

Quatre gave Trowa a look of disbelief; did his best friend really think that things were that simple?

"This isn't a fairy tale, Trowa!" he answered rising from the desk walking closer to Trowa, so he could stare him in the eyes. How could Trowa think that things were as easy as a fairy tale? Nothing is easy, especially when love is involved.

"Trowa did you ever wonder how come my parents never got to break the curse?" his voice mellowed, saddened by the memory of his parents.

When Trowa said nothing, Quatre took it as a sign to continue, but not before sitting down on his bed. "They were in love weren't they? And true love was the only way to break the curse. But how come my father still died? How come I have the curse now if they really loved each other?"

"You know why, because he pushed her away! So don't do the same mistake your father did! She might be our only hope but if you push her away, you'll die!"

"Did my dad really made a mistake with pushing her away? When I was young I never really understood why he did that, I would read mama's journal and it was always filled with so many loving words for him, so why didn't he think that they could break it? But now, I think I know why he did that, and I think he did the right thing."

"So you're telling me that you're planning to do exactly the same thing as your father did? You're going to push her away! You're just going to throw everything we've worked hard for away!"

"I'm not going to push her away! I just won't let her know about this other part of me! Don't you get it Trowa she's only in love with a part of me, but what happens when she sees the truth? Can she still love me?" Quatre cried, getting off the bed, facing his best friend once again.

"Obviously I don't get it. I don't understand why you're so willing to throw everything we've worked hard for! It took us YEARS to find the girl who can help you, and now that we've found her you'll just let everything that we've worked hard for go just because you fell in love!" he cried shaking Quatre's shoulders hoping to shake some sense into him.

"But what if we're wrong? Why can't you understand, Trowa? I'm scared…" he admitted in a soft voice, the fear in his voice had somehow clamed the brunette down making him release his hold on the other boy.

"Quatre…we're all scared. But you need to know, that there's nothing to be afraid of because you're not alone in this. You have us, your friends and there's absolutely no way we'll let you die…we're all here, we're in this together. You shouldn't have to suffer alone…I won't let you die!"

Quatre only shook his head, it seems that Trowa had misunderstood him again. "That's not what I'm afraid of…to be honest Trowa I've long accepted death, in fact sometimes I just wish this _thing_ will take over and kill me as soon as possible, that way I don't have to suffer like this anymore. It's not dying I'm afraid of, it's worst…"

Trowa had simply taken a few steps backward, a little bit shocked by a painful realization that he didn't understand what his best friend was talking about. Could it be that what he feared was somewhat connected to this girl? What had this girl done that changed Quatre to a point that even his own best friend could not understand his disposition? 'Or maybe I just really don't understand people in love'

Nodding, he turned and left the room. 'Looks like I'll have to see it for myself…What is it about you Dorothy Catalonia that's changing my best friend?'

Quatre was sitting on his desk, an hour had passed since Trowa's visit and he hasn't received any visitors since. But the object of his thoughts were immediately transferred from his best friend to the girl that has somehow pried her way into his life and into his heart and seemed to have taken residence.

All his life he had searched for someone who was strong enough to break _it_, not just him but everyone in his family and their advisers. He wasn't looking for anyone who could love him, because they had long accepted that no one could really love someone like him. So they searched the world for someone who was strong, courageous, someone who could hold her ground.

He had been going around the world being paired off to many girls who might have a chance at breaking the curse but with just one look he was sure that they could never help him that they didn't have what he was looking for. They all say that they'll learn to love him, but Quatre never believed it because they've never seen his other side so he rejected them all.

And when they thought they'd never find a girl like that in the world, Noin had decided that they return to Japan to claim the hand of the girl he first held hands with. She thought that as his deadline got closer it would probably be better if he settled down and start continuing their line. But when he visited the girl's house, after at least a week's worth of search, and the moment he laid eyes on Dorothy, the moment he saw her eyes he felt that she just might be the one…had hoped that she would be the one.

Her eyes shone with defiance and strength, she was stubborn and proud, and her aura demanded nothing but respect and caution; she was a force to be reckoned with. She had everything he had been looking for and more. And it was this that drew him to her, she was like a wild fire- attractive and dangerous, she can give warmth or she can burn you, she was the symbol of power, the epitome of a woman. Though Quatre never planned on falling for her, he did plan on making her fall for him, all for one purpose.

But one thing he had not counted on was when he realized that somewhere along the line he just stopped pretending. He didn't know how it started, but when he realized it did, things start to confuse him.

At first he had only planned on using her, it seemed that she might hold the key to his cure. But as the weeks flew by that he kept spending more time with her did he start losing focus on his ultimate goal. And unfortunately for him the moment he decided to call off his plan and leave Japan, he realized he was too late. He had gotten too close to her, he had allowed her in his life; and to walk out and leave without a word would just hurt her and him.

He was tangled in a web of his own doing. He had first wanted to use her; she was supposed to be a tool for him. But when he started caring for her did he decide to no longer pursue the plan, because he was afraid that when she finds out everything she might reject him- fear him.

'I won't let it happen…I promise.'

But his thinking was cut off when Duo, Heero and Wu Fei entered the room. Their faces were calm, but Quatre knew that deep down inside they were probably as annoyed, frustrated and frightened as he was.

"Let's go." Heero ordered.

Quatre complied without a word, he got off the table but before walking towards them he took the picture out of the frame and placed it in his pocket. He then walked towards Duo and Wu Fei and allowed his two trusted friends to cuff his wrist on his back then bind his body with a thick chain.

The three left the room without a word, with Quatre following behind like a prisoner bound in chains. With each step that Quatre took, his cheerful façade broke off piece by piece. The long silent walk towards the ceremonial grounds was dark, silent and depressing. His step was getting heavier and heavier, and his heart was feeling emptier and hollower as they got closer to their destination. The ceremony was about to begin.

Meanwhile Dorothy Catalonia was sitting in the passenger's seat next to Trowa. Just an hour ago Trowa had shown up at her door and had asked her to come with him telling her that it was important. In fact they had left so quickly that she didn't even get the chance to change, she was only able to get her bag that had her necessities and soon they had gone. And now they were in his car, the both of them not saying anything.

Dorothy had to admit that she was surprised by his behavior, just that afternoon he was grinning at her because she had accidentally slipped about wanting to see Quatre badly. But now that image of a grinning Trowa was no longer there, all she could see was a determined Trowa. What he was determined about, she didn't know, but she promised herself that she was going to find out. Hiding her slight interest, Dorothy sat as quietly and calmly as she could, without even sparing a glance at his direction.

A little while later the car came to a halt, and Dorothy was surprised to find that he had taken her to the restaurant she had planned to take Quatre to. She turned to Trowa as if demanding a reason from him. Trowa only smirked at her.

"Well didn't you want to cook? C'mon let's go pay these people so we can cook our own food for our date." He answered as he climbed out the car and left the blonde.

"Date?!" she called out, running after him. "In case you don't know I'm already dating Quatre. You're friend!"

"I know that," he answered, stopping to look her in the eyes; which had been a first for the entire evening. His eyes skimming up and down her lithe form, he had to admit that Dorothy was beautiful; she had an aura of wildness about her that seemed to challenge men. It was as if she was telling them that only those who can tame her, only those who can make her submit would ever win her heart. "I just want to get to know the woman that holds a special place in my best friend's heart. So that I can understand him..."

Dorothy raised a questioning brow at him, she was clearly not satisfied with his answer, but Trowa didn't really care. He simply pulled her by the hand and walked towards the big white tent, the restaurant was called _El Mare_.

The two couple- erm acquaintances were stationed in a counter filled with supplies and materials they'll need to prepare the dinner planned, it seems that they had arrived on time since the lecture has not begun. Actually it was more like a cooking class, however it was only opened to couples- it was kind of their gimmick so that they can cater to more audiences like the young couples and not just moms. (3)

The two worked in awkward silence, Dorothy watched the other pairs who were talking animatedly and probably romantically with each other and she envied them. She really wanted Quatre to be there with her, talking with her, trying to sneak a kiss now and then, but instead she got a quiet Trowa. As the two got to prepare the ingredients, Dorothy decided that it was just probably for the best that she enjoy their sort-of-date.

"Okay, now that we're done with preparing the vegetables, it's now time to prepare the chicken." And on the head chef's signal, the assisting chefs on each counter brought out a live chicken.

The couples in the beach restaurant gasped, even without the instructions from the chef they had an idea on what they needed to do next, and none of them were willing. The couples kept a worried look at the chicken on their counter, somewhat unsure what they could do next to avoid having to kill the poor chicken.

The assisting chefs had to hold back their laughter, and disguise their giggles as weird-sounding coughs. This was one of _El Mare's _favorite prank on the young couples, they loved scaring the teens with the challenge of having to kill the chicken and once they've had their fun, they'll bring out the real dead but fresh ingredient. And so far they were far from done and were still enjoying the look on the couples' faces.

Trowa and Dorothy had reacted just as everyone did the moment the chickens were brought in.

"We-we have to use th-that?!" Dorothy squeaked at Pierre, the chef assigned to assist them, pointing at the chicken who was looking at them with rather sad eyes.

"Of course, we always use fresh ingredients." the man answered with a smile, trying his best to hold back his laugh at the expression on their faces. It was really funny for him considering the two went in with rather intimidating auras, in fact for a moment Pierre had thought that these people couldn't smile and that they would remain unfazed with their little prank. But as it seems the two were not so intimidating anymore once faced with the task of killing a chicken.

"So how do we kill it?" Trowa asked, finally gaining enough strength to talk after the initial shock.

"You have to chop its head off."

Trowa merely nodded, his expression had returned to its normal stoic and bored expression, as he grabbed the cleaver then handed it to his date. "You do it."

"Wh-what? Why me? You're the guy!" she cried forcing the cleaver back into his hand.

"Don't used that 'you're the guy' thing with me, I thought you were all for female equality!" he retorted pushing the cleaver back. As the two continued their shove-of-war (tug-of-war in reverse) they gave each other reason why the other should do the decapitating.

"C'mon Dorothy, I need to hold the chicken down while you kill it!"

"I can do that! It's not like it's that hard for a girl! C'mon be a man! Besides you're gonna eat this too!"

"No! You need to learn it more than I do because Quatre likes chicken!"

"You're not making any sense! I can cook chicken, and very good too, especially when I'm not the one who's killing them!" she shouted shoving the cleaver and walking far from him so that he couldn't hand it to her anymore to finalize the argument.

Trowa huffed, he had to admit his arguments were pretty flawed, no wonder he lost the debate. Breathing deeply, to calm himself, he tightened his grip on the knife as he approached the counter.

"I can do this!" he cheered himself, "I can kill a chicken just as easily as I've eaten them."

As he walked closer, everyone in the restaurant had stopped to watch him for he was the first one to actually make an attempt to kill the poultry. Trowa had kept eye contact with the poultry on the table, the chicken holding his killer's glare. They weren't backing down, both knew that this was a battle that had started centuries ago between man and poultry- and someone needed to come out as a winner tonight. The chicken held its ground, but he knew that it probably wasn't the smartest idea and that he should've had just ran away when he had the chance.

Pierre was beginning to signal the Head Chef asking for permission to stop the boy, after all their goal was to freak their customers not really get them to kill the chicken, but the Head Chef had denied him, he was somewhat interested how the boy would handle it.

It had only been a short walk to the counter, just mere inches, but it was the longest walk of Trowa's life. His heart pounding loudly against his chest, everything was so quiet that he could even hear his watch ticking the seconds away!

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and kill it!" Dorothy scolded, breaking the boy's concentration thus adding to his frustration, and making him glare at the source of interruption.

"What? You were taking so long with your staring contest with the chicken! What were you trying to do, BORE it to death?"

"No, I was trying to- forget it! Just shut up and let me do this, okay!"

"Fine, just hurry it up!"

Completely annoyed at losing his momentum and focus, Trowa had quickly grabbed the chicken by the neck forcing its body down on the chopping board but as he raised his hand all of his anger had vanished allowing him to remember that he was just about to kill an innocent living creature. And this creature was looking him straight in the eye, even in its own death! Some of the girls gasped and some had looked away not wanting to see what a decapitated chicken looks like, but there were still a few who were brave or too scared to move or blink away. Turning his head to the side and closing his eyes he immediately brought the knife down!

Just as she was about to scold Trowa to not shut his eyes, her eyes caught sight of something with the color blue and yellow, underneath the chicken. And the moment she realized what that thing was she had immediately shouted at the boy to "STOP!"

But it was too late! The cleaver had come down hard, and a round figure came flying through the air and into the saucepan of the pair beside them. At seeing the blonde head bob in the sauce the guy paled and fainted right then and there. The ice was immediately broken when a clucking sound was heard, not to mention this clucking sound had come from Trowa's and Dorothy's counter.

"Then who's head was that?" A girl squealed, asking her boyfriend.

Wondering the same thing, Trowa had looked down into his hand to find that he had chopped not the chicken's head but the head of what seemed to be a doll of some sort. It seems that he had missed the chicken's head and his fingers by mere centimeters, but he couldn't say the same for the toy. Picking the thing up to observe it, at the same time releasing the chicken, he found that it was a keychain attached to Dorothy's bag. Waving the beheaded toy at the girl, who just stood there in shock, "Is this yours?"

Her gray eyes sadly followed its every move, the key chain has only been with her for such a short time but she's only heard its message one or three times and now she'll never hear it.Sure it wasn't the real Quatre saying those things, but the real Quatre had never once said those words. She knew that the recorded message was not meant; after all how could Quatre say that he loved her when he didn't know anything about her yet, but she still learned to treasure the toy just as she's learned to treasure the giver of the gift. Not because of its message but because it meant that wherever she was, as long as she took the toy with her, Quatre would always be with her.

But now the toy was headless, and the sight of it drained all the blood and color from her face and possibly her body. After getting over the initial shock, Dorothy was filled with a whole different emotion, one she was very familiar with.

"You just chopped off Quatre's head!"

Somewhere in the Winner Manor, Quatre's 39 sisters, Noin, Rashid (4), the Maguanacs along with Heero, Duo and Wu Fei were standing outside a room. But this room was no ordinary room; its walls were made of Gundamium alloy the strongest metal on earth. If someone were to see the room they would've thought that the reason for using Gundamium was to keep the person inside safe from attackers like thieves, but its sole purpose was not to protect those inside. Its sole purpose was to protect those outside the room by keeping the danger inside of it.

The girls were huddled together closely, comforting each other and praying that Quatre would come out alive and safe, but they knew that it wasn't going to happen. The others stood surrounding the room armed with a tranquilizer gun ready to shoot in case things turned ugly. As for Quatre, Quatre was inside the room, bound and waiting for _it_ to begin and hoping for everything to end soon.

Everything was silent; all that could be heard were their ragged breathing and the sound of the clock ticking away. But they didn't need to look at the clock to know what time it was, because they were all aware how close it was to the dreaded hour. The ceremony was about to begin, all they had to do now was wait. And waiting was something they all hated. Because all throughout the entire ceremony that was the only thing could do. Wait for it to begin and once it has started they would then wait for it to end. There was nothing they could do to help the person inside who was suffering.

As the sound of the clock's filled the mansion to signal the new hour, everyone had only one thing in mind. Their bodies had tensed to prepare themselves for the coming of what they have been waiting for.

In the middle of the room Quatre felt the surge of power enter his body, it burning him from the inside. It was like a flame eating him from the inside working its way out. He could no longer hold it back. His body started convulsing, the chains were rattling as he struggled to get out, whatever it was that was attacking him; his body was doing its best to fight it. But fighting is futile, it wouldn't be long before it took complete hold of his control.

A piercing scream echoed through the halls, filling the silent air of the night.

'It's coming.'

"What's coming?" Trowa looked up, surprised by Dorothy's question. When he didn't answer, Dorothy asked him again. "You said that it was coming, so what's coming?"

He had been looking at his watch, the moment the minute hand reached twelve, and the hour hand pointed to nine Trowa knew that it had begun. And for a brief moment he felt like he was there with them in the chamber room right now, helping them. But here he was with the one person who can really help Quatre trying to find out why Quatre chooses not to ask for her help.

"Nothing, listen I'm really sorry about beheading your Quatre doll.."

"It's okay…but I think it's Quatre you should really apologize to. After all it was his head." She joked, and she was surprised to hear a tenor rumble of laughter come out of her date. 'At least I know he can laugh…'

Dorothy just smiled, shaking her head and went back to topping the pie with the dough, while they waited for the chefs to finish cooking the chicken they had started preparing the dessert for the evening. Which was a hot steamy and delicious apple pie; Trowa not liking the fact that she was doing all the work, offered his help to press the dough firmly in place.

Things had died down, the chefs finally decided that they've had enough laugh after another one of their customers fainted at the announcement of Quatre's beheading and had been kind enough to bring out the chicken. And as an apology the assigned chefs at the table helped majority in the cooking of the meal.

With silence reigning on them once more, Dorothy decided it was time to get to know the best friend more. After all Quatre had also gotten close with her best friends, it would only be fair if she was the same with his friends.

"So tell me how long have you known Quatre?"

"All my life…our families were very close friends."

Dorothy nodded, she had hoped that the question would lead to another topic, but as it seems Trowa was not like her talkative suitor. "I see…no wonder I thought it was so weird for him to befriend someone like you."

"What do you mean?" he asked arching a brow; it was actually the first time he's heard anyone say that out loud. He was aware that some people thought it weird that two unlike people would end up as best friends, but he has never met anyone who would say it outright and out loud at his face.

"Well I thought it would just be impossible if Quatre made friends with you recently, because well you're not exactly like him. But the fact that you've known each other for so long makes sense to your friendship. No offense, but at first glance, I don't think you two would have become friends if you'd only met each other just now…you're almost polar opposites."

"You're very frank…I guess that's one of the other things that Quatre likes about you."

Now it was Dorothy's turn to be silent, she had not expected Trowa to say that. "So tell me why did you invite Quatre into something like this?"

"Huh? Oh well…I just wanted to spend time with him that's all, besides they say it's fun…why? Didn't you have fun?"

Trowa nodded as he placed the pie into the oven, while they waited for the pie to finish, the chicken that they had prepared was served. The chefs had taken them in after they were cooked for garnishing.

"I'm having fun. Just too bad Quatre can't be here tonight because of the ceremony." At the word Dorothy stiffened, they were already seated at the counter ignoring Pierre as he prepared the dinner and filled their glasses with wine. Dorothy pondered on his words for a while, as Trowa started eating his dinner, he had to admit it was really good. And though he has eaten this food in a couple of occasions, it never quite tasted as good as this one.

Noticing her silence he turned to see that she held a curious look, and he smirked at the sight. Moving closer so only Dorothy could hear him, he decided to offer some enlightenment to the young girl.

"You're worried about him, aren't you? You're worried about what this ceremony is doing to him. You want to know what this ceremony is, don't you?" Dorothy only turned to him blankly, but she nodded carefully.

Yes she wanted to know, she wanted to know why it was so important that Quatre should never miss it. She wanted to know why it was performed always at the fifteenth of the month, and mostly she wanted to know why Quatre always came out injured the next day. The first time it happened he had told her not to worry, but when she realized that it kept going on like so every month did she begin to worry. Quatre was keeping it a secret from her, and the fact that he was keeping her out of a part of his life hurt her.

She wanted to know why wasn't she allowed to know, and what this secret really is that whenever it would come out in their discussion he would always seem frightened. What was it about this ceremony that scared Quatre? What do they do that would always result to Quatre being wounded or even injured?

"Do you want me to tell you?"

Noin tightened her embrace on the girls as more screams and pounding echoed, though they couldn't see what was going on inside they were sure that Quatre was struggling with the chains. It seemed that this time he was having a hard time getting out of them.

Quatre's body was on fire and it scared him, he wanted to get away from it, but how can you get away from something that is within you? His usual pale complexion was beginning to change to a purple hue, and he could feel an unknown power sweeping through his entire body. Suddenly he felt that he had enough strength to pulled at the chains, hoping to break free, but when the chain didn't break he pushed himself up and had started ramming himself to the door.

"STOP!" he had managed to scream as he felt the fire continue its way up, he didn't want this, he wanted this to stop. Every time this happened to him it seemed that it kept getting worse, and his contemplation of suicide became even more tempting. So he continued to ram himself towards the door, as his arms continued to try break free from its bondage, hoping that he would pass out or just die. Anything just so he won't turn into it again.

He tried to suppress it, hold it back, he did everything he could to stop it. But it seems that his body was getting stronger that ramming himself against the door was not enough to knock him out. By then blood was already dripping all over his face, his arms bleeding as the chains started giving way, their edges scratching his skin.

"No, I don't want to know." Dorothy answered as she decided to eat her food.

"Why not?"

"Because whatever it is, and no matter how much I want to know what it is and no matter how much I'm worrying about Quatre right now, I cannot violate his privacy like this. He told me that he'll tell me someday, just not now and I'm sure he has a good reason why he isn't telling it to me right now, so I'll believe him. I'll trust him. And I'll wait for him to tell me what it is when he is ready."

Needless to say he was pleased with her answer; he was beginning to see why Quatre had fallen for this girl. And he was soon beginning to understand just why Quatre acted the way he did earlier, he was beginning to see things the way Quatre saw them.

Now he understood why Quatre was so scared. There in front of him was the girl that had everything they had been looking for, but there was still no guarantee that she could break the curse because they needed someone who could love him not just someone who can face him.

'You may have what we're looking for, but are you really strong enough for something like this? Is that why Quatre doesn't want you to find out? Because he's afraid that if you can't do it, then it would mean that the woman he loved didn't love him back as much as he did.'

Trowa smiled, as he continued to watch Dorothy move her way around the restaurant getting ingredients for their pie. A sense of accomplishment and disappointment filled him. He was glad that he finally understood what Quatre meant, and it was because of that understanding that got him disappointed. He was disappointed because just like Quatre he knew that whatever the outcome was…it wouldn't be pretty. If Dorothy saw Quatre's other side, she'd be afraid of him and probably run out of Quatre's life. But if Dorothy didn't help, then the curse would take over and kill Quatre. It seemed that the answers he found had led to more questions.

But somehow looking at her made him feel that Dorothy might really be able to succeed. That she really was the only one who could help, and if she really was the one they were looking for he was sure that the risk of her getting hurt or injured would be minimal. 'I still think we should tell her.'

"You know Trowa it's rude to look, stop."

"STOOOOOOOP! MAKE IT STOP!" he shouted as his felt his entire body gone numb, and he knew what it meant. It had won him over again. The curse was taking over him again. And in an act of desperation, Quatre had bitten on his lip to hold back the scream that was threatening to come out of his mouth as he felt his entire body being ripped apart. Blood was dripping from his lips as a result of his bite, but the taste of his own blood had somehow made the curse stronger as it attacked his body faster that normal! But before his consciousness could slip into the oblivion, a vision entered his mind and it was of Dorothy.

Suddenly his turquoise eyes darkened as the curse enveloped his entire being.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

"Dorothy!" Trowa cried, all of a sudden just when everyone was peacefully eating their pie Dorothy had just started screaming and had backed away from the counter causing her to fall off her chair. "Dorothy, are you alright? What happened?"

But Trowa's words fell on deaf ears; Dorothy continued crawling backwards until her back was pressed up against the counter of the couple behind them. She was looking around as if looking for someone; her eyes could no longer see _El Mare _or the people that was in there with her. All of a sudden her world had gotten dark, she couldn't see anyone, she couldn't hear anyone, and she didn't know where she was or what she was doing there.

Having the presence of mind, she tried to regulate her heart beat by breathing normally; once she had calmed herself down she tried to remember what had happened. Just then an overwhelming feeling swept over her body, she knew it couldn't have been the wind because her clothes or her hair didn't move, instead she knew that it was caused by a presence. And its presence scared her, it wasn't wind, but it was something strong.

Suddenly she felt something that made her blood run cold, she immediately turned to look around her, and she could feel that someone was looking at her, watching her every move. Just then a new feeling overcame her senses, and it was this feeling that she felt when she was in _El Mare, _it was what made her scream and fall off her chair. It was the feeling someone was calling out to her. Someone was calling out for her help; someone important to her was suffering and was calling out to her. Someone like…

"Quatre!"

Hurriedly Noin had pulled at Emily's running figure just in time before she could reach the door, "Emily don't you'll get hurt!"

"Let me go Noin!" she begged struggling to pull away from the woman, she couldn't stand it any longer her brother was in there crying for their help. He wanted to get out and if that was what he wanted, needed she was willing enough to give it to him! "Please! My brother needs help! Let me go!"

"I can't let you do this, if you open that door, if you let him out…" Noin cried as she choked back the tears that were threatening to fall; she wanted to help Quatre just as much as everyone did. She wanted to stop his suffering, none of them could bear it any longer, but she knew that the best way to help him and to keep the others safe was to keep him locked up inside.

"He isn't your brother right now!" Wu Fei shouted, hoping to talk some sense into the girl. He wasn't being mean or anything, he understood completely what Emily felt; he knew that they all felt the same thing. They all wanted to help, but they knew that there really wasn't much they could do. They knew that what they were doing might kill Quatre, but so far that was the best plan they had and they were sticking to it.

"Yes he still is! No matter how he looks like, he's still my brother! He hasn't changed!" She reasoned as she desperately tried to break free from Noin, Duo had approached the two helping Noin in keeping Emily as far away as possible from the room. The American then turned to his friend, his eyes telling Heero to do something!

"Yes he has! But there's nothing we can do about it. If you let him out he might kill anyone, he might even kill you! Do you want that on your brother's conscience?" Heero scolded his voice piercing through the girl's frantic shouts, his eyes glaring icily at the girl holding her firmly in place with his glare.

"I just wanted to help…" she whispered, her legs gave way, making her fall on her knees. From where she knelt she could hear his cries clearly, and it caused an unbearable ache in her heart to hear him cry like that.

"I know…we all want to help," Heero explained, his voice now gentle and his eyes understanding "But right now this is all that we can do to help."

Without any warning, Quatre had just stopped his screaming and the pounding noises had stopped altogether. But they knew all too well that this silence was not something they should take comfort in, the silence only meant that Quatre had changed. Quatre had once again lost to his curse.

Inside the dark room, with the moon from the skylight as the only form of illumination a huddled figure in the middle of the room could be seen. But this figure was not of Quatre's, in fact it was hard to believe that this creature was once Quatre.

Carefully the creature got up from its position on the ground, scanning the room, making himself aware of his surroundings. There scattered on the floor were pieces of cloth, then his eyes were drawn to what used to be his hands. Lifting his claws as if to examine them, admiring their deadliness and as time elapsed he could feel a new power coursing in his body, a strength that was practically limitless, a power that was sweet to the senses and a lust for blood.

This was his curse.

The creature, though off the ground was hunched, he was at least six times larger than Quatre. It had sand-colored skin, the texture was as rough as a rock's jagged surface. It had long legs that resembled a frog's hind legs, and long sharp bony claws for hands, his feet was very much like that as well. His face was elongated, and had long droopy ears that dropped at the sides of its head. Quatre's turquoise eyes were now replaced by green orbs that glowed with a malice that could not be compared to anything.

But his attention was immediately drawn to the smell of blood, which was undoubtedly his, that was falling from his wounded lips. Looking down he followed where the blood dripped only to find a slightly rumpled piece of glossy paper on the floor. Slowly he reached out to pick up the parchment that was covered in blood with his claws so that he could examine the paper at a closer distance.

Wiping the blood away the creature was able to make out a two figures standing side by side, the taller one had his arms around the smaller one's shoulder. For a brief moment the green orbs had returned to their original turquoise human eyes, as the creature traced the smaller figure's face. Somehow he knew this person, he could recognize it. And the person standing next to it was very familiar to it as well.

Without any warning, Quare's heart throbbed as his eyes lingered on the photo in his claws. The creature had never felt this kind of pain before when he was in this body and it alarmed him, scared him even. It was completely unfamiliar to him, somehow he felt his heart squeezing. Contracting and it was getting harder to breathe!

Immediately he placed his other palm over his chest to check if his heart was still there. Because with the pain that he was undergoing right now was making him feel as if his heart was very slowly being wrenched out of his chest…piece by painful piece. And when his eyes were once again drawn to the picture, the painful feeling of cold emptiness had intensified. And he knew that it was caused by the picture!

It angered him! Soon green orbs glowed into red orbs, he was mad, it was mad. Because now he knew what that painful feeling was- it was vulnerability. It was a weakness. And as a creature with a thirst for power, he despised weakness especially when it is in his vessel! And this weakness, allows it to see and feel what Quatre sees and feel.

'How can you love me when I'm a monster? Who can love someone like me?' Quatre's thought cried, overriding the beast's consciousness. The thought that Dorothy would fear him, flee him, scared him, hurt him…angered him. And it was this anger that surged into his body erasing all other emotions.

The monster could feel anger burst within his body, an anger that wasn't his, and he liked it. Quatre's anger tasted sweet to him, and intensified his power. This anger can be used to his advantage, because this anger would mix with his- and this would serve to unite him with his vessel.

Heero had silently approached the door, pressing his ear against the metal listening for the creature's movements.

"What's the matter?" Rashid asked noticing the troubled look on the boy's features.

"It's too quiet in there," Wu Fei answered knowing full well that Heero would not answer the question because he was too close to the door-and he didn't want to endanger himself by letting Quatre hear him, besides he was after all closer to Rashid. "Normally Quatre would be raging and pounding the door down, but now there's nothing, no noise at all."

Getting an idea, Amanda lifted her head up detaching herself from Noin, a glimmer of hope in her almond eyes. "Could it be that Quatre was able to control the curse?"

"I doubt it." Duo answered, not really looking at the young red-head, his eyes had remained glued to the door. Waiting, watching for any sudden movements, his gun ready in case he needed to take action, he stood there as if ready to attack and at the same time cautious with his movements so as not to alarm him. "We don't want to take any chances."

As if proving Duo right a strange roar echoed in the room, but this was different from all the others. They could tell that it wasn't his usual desperate angry bellow, somehow they could feel the sadness that lie underneath. And though none of them could really decipher what the beast had cried, they knew what Quatre had cried out.

_Dorothy woke up in a place filled with darkness, her gray eyes searched for a way out or at least someway that would let her know where she was. A growing sense of panic made her run, she didn't know where she was and she was all alone._

"_Trowa?" she called out, as she moved around the vast space. She was a little bit unsure that her running was taking her anywhere; all she knew was that her body was moving, running. As to where she was headed she had no idea._

"_Dorothy"_

'_Quatre!' Dorothy turned to the direction of the voice, only to find that she was now standing face to face with the blonde boy smiling at her. A sense of relief washed over her body at his familiar smile, somehow just seeing his smile made her feel that everything will be alright._

"_Quatre I'm so glad you're here! I don't know what happened, I was at El Mare with Trowa a while ago and now all of a sudden-" but her detailing was immediately interrupted when Quatre pressed two fingers on her lips, the touch causing her to blush._

_Just as she was to protest, Quatre took a few steps backward his gentle smile still plastered on his serene face. "Good-bye."_

_The word echoed repeatedly in her head, wondering as to what Quatre meant, "Qua- Quatre, what are you doing? Where are you going?"_

_But Quatre only smiled at her waving good-bye as he turned his back on her and walked further away. Though she didn't know what was going on, somehow with every step he took further, she knew that it was a step further out of her life- and she didn't want that. Suddenly fear made its presence known as she felt her entire body go cold at the thought of him leaving her. "Quatre!"_

_Quatre didn't look back or even react to his name, as if he hadn't heard anyone and continued walking. The girl had wanted to run, to stop him, but she couldn't move! She was forced to watch the one man she ever learned to love walk out of her life, and for the first time in her life did she ever learn what it was like to get her heart broken._

'_Is this suppose to hurt so much?' Tears begin to well up in her eyes, as she watched Quatre slowly disappear from her sight, and from her reach…forever. In a desperate attempt she reaches her hand out to him hoping for one last touch…_

In a dark room a solitary figure lay on the bed, moaning and struggling underneath the midnight blue sheets; the figure stretched out its arm, reaching for something.

"Quatre…please don't leave me." Her strained voice begged. Two hands then later on enveloped the outstretched hand waking the person up in the process. Dorothy rose up, frightened and disoriented; squinting at the person holding her hand. "Who are you?"

"Ssshhh…it's me." His gentle voice assured, as he tucked a stray strand behind her ear.

"Quatre? Is it really-" she asked, not trusting her ears as of the moment. No, not until she saw his smiling face will she be all right. Squinting some more, she waited for her eyes to become accustomed to the lack of light. And as soon as Quatre's face finally came into view, she was no longer able to hold back. The memory of the dream still fresh in her mind, his smile, his back walking away from her…

"Quatre…" she gasped as she buried her face into his chest, sobbing like a lost little child. The usually collected girl for the first time had an outburst of tears in front of Quatre, something she never would have done in front of anyone- her pride just wouldn't let anyone see her weak. But she did, for once in her life she finally swallowed her pride and cried.

"Dorothy, what's the matter? Why are you crying?" he asked, worried and a bit stunned at the sudden show of emotion, not knowing what he should do to comfort the girl he awkwardly placed a hand on her head, feeling her warm tears soak through his shirt.

"Please…please don't leave me! Don't ever leave me!" she begged tightening her hold on his shirt. "Please, I don't know what I'll do if you walk away!"

Dorothy never felt this kind of fear before, the fear of losing the most important person in her life, the fear of feeling unloved-empty. She had never once feared those things, because she never loved anyone like this before. Ever since she was young she had concluded that the reason why so many people experience heartbreak, regret and sorrow is because they loved, so she promised herself that she would never fall in love. But it seems that she had broken this promise, because now she was feeling the fear that can only be experienced by a person in love.

"Dorothy…" he whispered as he stroked her soft locks, enjoying the feel of it against his skin, slowly he pushed her chin up so that she could look at his eyes. "I promise you…I'm not going anywhere, I won't ever leave you."

The sincerity in his turquoise eyes and in his voice had washed all the doubts and fears in her mind. Dorothy took his bandaged hand and placed it over her chest, Quatre nodded feeling her heart beating weakly. "It feels so empty…when you're not there."

"I promise I won't ever leave you, you won't ever have to be scared of being lonely. I'll always be here." Gently he pulled the girl into his arms once again, resting her head against his chest, his heartbeat lulling the girl back into sleep.

"Good…'coz you have no idea how scary it is to lose the one person that holds your heart…" she murmured as she was pulled into his warm comforting embrace. Feeling secure, she closed her eyes knowing that when she wakes up Quatre was still going to be there beside her.

'Yes…I do.' Carefully he laid her down on the bed, they stayed there like that, Dorothy sleeping peacefully on the mattress, and Quatre watching his angel sleep. Slowly he pulled her hand and pressed it against his cheek, drenching her pale hand with his warm tears

"That's why I won't ever let you know, because I don't ever want to see you to leave me."

Outside his room, Trowa stood beside his parted door, hearing everything. From the corner of his eye he could see Noin and Rashid approach him.

"Why did you bring her here?" Rashid asked, his voice toned down so as not to alert Quatre.

Trowa simply shook his head, pushing himself off the wall he walked past the two but was stopped by Noin's hand on his shoulder. "Listen I believe that she can cure this curse as much as you do, but you need to understand that Quatre is just scared."

"I understand completely, but you're the one who's not getting me! He's not going to die," he promised in a hiss, "I won't let him die…because if I let him die… it'll be my fault." He replied shoving the hand away from his shoulder as he walked away.

Noin and Rashid stood there, surprised by Trowa's parting words. Can anyone say who's going to die and who isn't? Did anyone ever really have an authority over death to promise such a thing?

"It was never your fault Trowa…" Noin whispered to his retreating figure, but because Trowa was already far, the blue-haired girl's words were unheard.

**Author's Note: **Wow! This is like my longest chapter ever! Woohoo! I must say I really had a hard time typing this one up…Do you guys remember the toy? If not, go back to chapter 3! (",)

Can you guys answer this question? Please I'd like to know what your answer to this question is; just out of curiosity, besides it will be fun! (",)

It's unofficial because Dorothy still hasn't agreed to it.

Kinda like in the movie Hitch with Will Smith and Eva Longoria, when they went out with her boss and his wife.

Thanks to Maddery for correcting me about Rashid's name, I'll be editing the former chapters when I get the time. But not yet though…I'll fix it soon enough.


	8. Oh Baby

**New Author's Notes: **Crap! Apparently I uploaded the wrong story! I AM SO SORRY. I did the upload at around 2AM without any sleep the previous days…Please forgive me. Anyway, here is the right chapter for TAKE MY HAND.

**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the delay, I've been really busy and I kinda hit another writer's block, but thanks for your patience, so without further ado..

**PREVIOUSLY**

"That's why I won't ever let you know, because I don't ever want to see you leave me."

Outside his room, Trowa stood beside his parted door, hearing everything. From the corner of his eye he could see Noin and Rashid approach him.

"Why did you bring her here?" Rashid asked, his voice toned down so as not to alert Quatre.

Trowa simply shook his head, pushing himself off the wall he walked past the two but was stopped by Noin's hand on his shoulder. "Listen I believe that she can cure this curse as much as you do, but you need to understand that Quatre is just scared."

"I understand completely, but you're the one who's not getting me! He's not going to die," he promised in a hiss, "I won't let him die…because if I let him die… it'll be my fault." He replied shoving the hand away from his shoulder as he walked away.

Noin and Rashid stood there, surprised by Trowa's parting words. Can anyone say who's going to die and who isn't? Did anyone ever really have an authority over death to promise such a thing?

"It was never your fault Trowa…" Noin whispered to his retreating figure, the blue-haired girl's words unheard.

**Chapter 8: Oh Baby**

"No, Fred stop! Come down from there!"

"Cora, no, don't play with the fork."

"Justin, please stop dissecting your sister's doll. "

"Justine, stop pulling your brother's hair!"

But no matter what she said, no matter how loud she shouted and no matter how much she tried to clean everything, the children did not listen to her, continued with their play-fighting and with making a mess of their house. There is no need to state the situation, it is obvious that she was currently stuck in a babysitting situation while their parents enjoyed a nice peaceful evening out. She really could not blame the parents for wanting a calm evening, imagine raising four children who obviously do not know the meaning of the word: behave.

Fred the eldest, definitely had leadership qualities as his younger siblings followed his every move. Cora, whom Dorothy had expected to be sweet from their first meeting, is a manipulative blacking-mailing brat. While Justin, displayed great promise at being a surgeon- a heart surgeon to be exact- as he operated on an unwilling bear of his twin sister Justine who was currently pulling his hair in defense for her bear.

And no matter how much she tried, it just wouldn't stop. She was tired, the entire place was a mess, SHE was a mess and it has only been half an hour since she was left with the children. But what could she do? She could not ask for help from her friends for they were still angry with her, and her grandfather—well he was the one that got her in this situation in the first place.

'I know he was angry, but do I really deserve this kind of punishment?'

Back to this morning's event, at the return of Dorothy accompanied by Quatre. They returned to the house real early, and not wanting to wake her grandfather up, the two made sure to sneak in as quietly as possible. But apparently, there was no need to sneak in quietly, there wasn't anyone to be woken up, because the moment the two opened the door they released a loud, long and continuous wailing. The voices were varying in pitch from different people and their cries were mournful, bitter, and completely disappointed.

Dorothy and Quatre were seated on the floor across Dermail, Relena and Hilde who were huddled together on the sofa, crying.

"Where did I go wrong in raising you? What have I done to deserve this- this- betrayal to my trust?"

"But nothing-" But before Dorothy could relieve her grandfather's woes, Relena had jumped up, her hair frazzled and was still in her pajamas.

"Dorothy, how could you? We made a pact! A promise that should never be broken that we wouldn't lose our virginity until AFTER we got married!"

"Wait-" Dorothy, absolutely disliked the accusation that her own BEST FRIEND had given her, it was more than just an attack to her femininity but an attack to the credibility of her word!

"I thought you were a woman of principle, but you fall to temptation just like those other girls! I never knew my best friend to be such a slut!" Oh, so attacking her credibility wasn't enough! They had to go and attack her PRINCIPLES! The very foundations of her values was being questioned!

"That's it! I've had enough of all of your judgments!" Dorothy cried out as she got up from the floor, but unlike all other people who are angry SHE does not fume. Angry Dorothy Catalonia, does not fume, she doesn't fist her hands at her sides, she doesn't get smoke come out from her ears. NO. Angry Dorothy Catalonia stands proud, and looks at those people down.

"I would have thought you know me enough to trust me not to do such a thing! And because you obviously cared enough to ask, I'd just let you know that yesterday, I passed out during my date with Trowa, so he took me to Quatre's mansion to get medical attention, where Quatre also took care of me! And before you butt in with your accusations, let me tell you that…NOTHING. HAPPENED!"

And that was the great outburst that landed her with this babysitting job, that she never signed up for.

'I don't even need the money!' After all, she's currently being courted-yes, courted and NOT dating- a very handsome and very rich heir to his father's large business.

"Attack!" Dorothy was quickly reminded that she had children that needed watching or she might leave the house with four dead children due to negligence and too much pondering of one really handsome blonde.

"Justine, drop that knife!"

"But he took Twoy's heart! And now, Twoy's dead because he's heartbroken, and- and I heard dawt dere's no cure for that."

Dorothy felt like saying 'Aaawww' at the cuteness of her speech, but was overwhelmed by her worry that a four-year-old girl thought that because of too much exposure from soap operas. "Don't worry sweetie, I'll take care of it, Twoy- I mean Troy won't die."

"Pwamis?"

"I promise."

Three hours, two pizzas and two liters of cola and 1 gallon of sweat later the house is a mess and the children are all on the living room couch with Dorothy telling them a story. "Angry at the idea that her reproductive rights were almost taken away from her, she moves to California and starts a birth control clinic and lives happily ever after—as a 'fulfilled, dedicated single person.'"

"That's a very romantic story to be telling children."

"And people would call that break and entering." Dorothy answered, not even bothering to look at the new arrival standing behind her.

"Not, if I know the person in the house."

"Ah so you're making me the accomplice."

"No—jumping to another topic now. How come you didn't text me? What happened after I left?"

"Left? Or kicked out?" Dorothy challenged, as she watched Quatre sit on the couch's armrest.

"Left." 'Kicked out.'

"I didn't see the need to text you. I mean why should I? You're not responsible for me."

"I was worried about you."

"You shouldn't be, the only punishment I got was babysitting these four little monsters."She replied as she carefully took Justine into her arms.

"Is that why you read them a not-so-magical fairy tale?" Quatre asked, taking with him whom he assumed was the girl's twin brother and followed after his Dorothy.

"It's a politically correct fairy tale, perfect for kids. They don't need to grow up thinking that magic is real, they need to know that life is harsh- and what are you doing here? I thought my grandfather told you that he'll castrate you with a blunt knife if you come any closer to me."

"Yeah, but is that what you want?" Quatre emphasized as he pulled the other teen into his arms, and the embrace would have been loving had it not been for- "Ow!"

That.

"What did you elbow me for?"

"Listen, let's get this clear." Dorothy answered as she slowly maneuvered Fred out of the couch, in an instant Quatre took the boy and carried him to wherever Dorothy led them. "The other night, I said some things…I was, you know- I just woke up and I had a nightmare, and you were just there. It was like a teddy bear situation-"

"Teddy bear situation?" Quatre chuckled, as he entered the dark room carefully laying the boy in his bed. While Dorothy waited by the doorway instead, choosing to hold the conversation for a while. Once Quatre was out, Dorothy answered.

"Teddy bear situation, you know how when a little girl gets a nightmare, and when she wakes up she cuddles the first cute thing that she sees, it's like a comfort blanket."

"Wait." Quatre calls out, placing a hand on the other's shoulder, pausing their descent from the stairs with Dorothy's silver eyes on him. Even in the dark, he realized that he could still see them clearly, in fact every feature of her face was ingrained in his mind that even with his eyes close he would still be able to see a detailed face of the woman in front of him.

The pause had caused Dorothy to feel awkward beneath his gaze, somehow the darkness in the room was forgotten because everything can be seen clearly by the two of them. And somehow, Quatre finally realized, that he had been staring, and thankfully remembered what it was he was planning to say. "You think I'm cute?"

A raised eyebrow, and a smooth turning of the back was his only reply as he watched Dorothy approach the eldest daughter. "What I'm trying to say is-"

"You don't have to explain." Quatre interrupted, placing a hand over Dorothy's smaller one that was about to reach for the young girl's sleeping form. Carefully, he carried the girl as gently as possible. "I can see that you're still confused, and that I misunderstood you. I'm sorry."

With those words he left Dorothy behind as he searched for the girl's bedroom; which wasn't so hard, she just needed to find the other bedroom that didn't look like the Master's bedroom.

As she watched Quatre ascend those stairs, with Cora cradled so gently in his arms, suddenly she was engulfed by the memory of what it felt to be in those arms. His arms weren't bulky with muscles but he wasn't all bones either, and it was tightened around her form, pulling her close to him. 'Yes, that was how it felt. It was warm, gentle…loving.'

"No…I'm sorry, Quatre." She whispered.

"Well, they're all tucked in, I guess I'm going now."

Without waiting for the other to reply, Quatre hurriedly exited through the door. He left, without even giving Dorothy a hug, not even a kiss or a touch of the hand. Nothing. All Dorothy felt was a soft breeze and the lingering scent of his cologne as he left her.

'This…this is so much like my dream...It's so lonely without him.'

Minutes passed and Dorothy just stood there, waiting for something but expected nothing. But what exactly is she waiting for?

"He's not coming back, not after I said those things." Dorothy muttered as she headed for the couch, "And I thought he never knew when to give up."

Cutting through the silence of the night, was Dorothy's phone playing a song from her favorite band, Simply Planning.

"Hello?" she answered immediately.

"Hey sweetie, why the sad face?"

'Quatre?' Immediately she hurried to the door and opened it to see that indeed Quatre's car was still parked outside, with him sitting at the driver's seat. With a wave, he flashed her one of his smiles that was proven deadly when it came to girls.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Well I know I'm not allowed anywhere near you, but I wasn't forbidden to speak with you. Besides I'm worried about you being all alone in that house, at this time."

His worry for her was enough to make her smile, and her previous loneliness was suddenly gone. He never left. "I'm not exactly alone, am I? And house is just across the street!"

"Yes, but I don't think four kids can protect you from any danger, I'd feel so much better when I can see you."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Well we could talk like this all night, I don't mind."

"I don't think so." Dorothy pressed the END button, waved, and entered the house.

In honesty, Quatre had been disappointed, he was never rejected twice by Dorothy—but then again he never stayed after the first rejection. He had really hoped that he was getting past Dorothy's shields, but apparently he was still right where they started. Dorothy' s stubbornness was both noteworthy and at the same time frustrating, he was glad that there was a woman like Dorothy who is not easily claimed by a man's charms. It was the perfect technique not to get hurt, after all not every guy out there keeps their word of loving someone forever.

However, the danger to Dorothy's game is that it won't allow her to experience real love when it does decide to come knocking on her door. Sometimes, when it comes to love you just have to take a chance.

His musings were cut off, however, by a text message on his phone. The message read:

_Dorothy: If you bring pizza and some soda—I might let you in._

That message had been all that he needed to uplift his rejected spirit, wounds were licked and disinfected as he hurried to the nearest pizza shop. Well, everybody, looks like Dorothy Catalonia was going to take a chance—and he, Quatre Raberba Winner was not going to let go of it.

**Author's Notes: **Sorry if it's a bit short, it's an update to get the story moving^^. Don't worry, hopefully for the next chapter it'll be much longer and filled with more wackiness and romance, depends on what you want to see.

Thank you, everyone! Ja!


	9. A New Rival

**Chapter 9: A New Rival**

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon and everyone had gone out to do different things, like – take a stroll at the park, go shopping, play video games or if you're as desperate as one Quatre Raberba Winner you'd be spying on one Dorothy Catalonia and her date.

That's right; Dorothy Catalonia is on a date with someone who isn't Quatre.

Because as of the moment Quatre is not on Dermail's good side and as punishment for Quatre and his trampling of Dermail's trust, he had arranged a date for his granddaughter. Dorothy's date is young man who is the youngest son of one of Dermail's trusted friends.

The news had come as a complete shock to Quatre, considering he had organized a wonderful hiking trip as an adventurous date with Dorothy and had hoped to surprise her. But when he got to her house, he was received by an annoyed Dermail and his gruff answer to Dorothy's whereabouts was a door to his face.

"She's on a date." The young boy muttered to himself as he continued to follow the couple from a safe distance. Unlike those crazy stalkers, Quatre was intelligent enough not to adopt a funny disguise. Wearing rounded sunglasses and a mask does not help in concealing oneself but only makes you stand out. The smartest thing to do was pay a certain someone to give you his tiger costume. Not only was his identity hidden, but he also had an excuse to be moving around—giving away promotional balloons.

And that was not all he prepared.

Inside a van labeled "Party Poppers" that was following him around (which was also rented from the tiger man) were all his friends whom he had asked to gather information about Dorothy's date. If he was going to stalk someone he needed this kind of professional help; besides, they didn't have anything better to do.

"Quatre, they are now in the amusement park." Heero informed him through their radio communication. "You should be able to enter through the entrance for employees."

"Okay, I'm coming in there to get some more balloons." The man hurried to get to the van and as soon as the door had closed behind him Quatre quickly removed the mascot's head and was surprised to hear snorts coming from his friends.

"Shut up, it's not as funny as you think. It's so hot in here and kids these days are very demanding! And I can't get close to those two!"

Wu Fei tried his best to compose himself as he parked the van near the park. "We'll just stay here, where we can access the park's security cameras to keep an eye on you."

Quatre nodded and received Duo's offered drink. "Were you able to get any details on the guy?"

Trowa pulled out a folder and read the file out loud. "Kakeru Yamamoto. Fine Arts major, 177cm, 63kg, half-Japanese and half-French from his mother's side. Females from his university address him as Apollo for his brown hair, captivating green eyes and his seemingly sharp jaw-line. Dermail also added that aside from his good looks, he is also a complete gentleman."

"Wow, that's a good profile. D'you think Dorothy will like him?" Duo commented as he handed the mascot's head back to Quatre. Quatre grabbed the head forcefully and gruffly puts it on as gets off the van. "Wow, he's really pissed."

When Duo turned to face his friends he was surprised to be on the receiving end of an angry glare from everyone. "What?"

As Heero had said, Quatre did not have a hard time entering the park through the employee's entrance. Even without Wu Fei's surveillance help Quatre quickly found the pair walking towards one of the park's roller coasters. It wasn't because his eyes were sharp or anything, it was only because his eyes always seemed to find Dorothy. Wherever he may be and no matter how far she is from him, as long as she was within his visual range his eyes would always and easily seek her out.

Or maybe it was because blondes are so rare in Japan and Dorothy's long blonde hair always stood out.

Seeing his soon-to-be-girlfriend out with another man and apparently having a wonderful time with him was enough to make him bristle at her infidelity. 'I thought she hates guys! When I asked for a date I had to be locked out and pushed out of a window, but this guy...he's receiving special treatment!'

But his inner rage did not last for long when he saw the CREEP – the new name Quatre had dubbed Dorothy's date – wrap an arm around Dorothy's shoulder, pulling her body close to him. Quatre knew that something he did not like was about to happen and he needed to stop it. Quickly taking action, he hurried between the couple, making sure to push the creep as far back as he could.

"What the heck? Who are you?" the creep asked at the sight of the tiger looking down on him with a big smile on its face. But instead of receiving any answer, all he got was a heavy pat on the head. Kakeru swatted the hand away. "What do you think you're doing?"

The tiger simply ignored the question as he turned towards Dorothy and offered her a balloon and a kiss on the hand. But when the tiger looked up with its permanently smiling face he was taken aback by Dorothy's cold stare and a hissed question that made Quatre's blood run cold. "What do you think you're doing, Quatre?"

The two remained frozen in their position for a while with Quatre still holding onto Dorothy's hand before he sped off towards the exit. Passers-by heard a frantic voice shouting from inside the mascot, "Abort! Abort mission! I've been compromised!"

Once Quatre was inside the van he hurriedly removed the costume, "Darn it! I shouldn't have acted like that! Do you think she'll kill me?"

"…"

"Guys? Why're you so qui—et?" In front of Quatre were a bunch of girl scouts with their den mother behind the wheel, all of them looking at him with slight amusement and shock.

Quatre smiled at the girls while he retrieved the costume's head and made his way towards their van.

"Quatre, what happened? What took you so long?" Heero asked with a hint of teasing in his smirk obviously already knowing the answer.

"Don't. Just don't ask."

"Did you get in the wrong van?" Duo asked with a grin on his face.

"No! Can we just get out of here?"

Wu Fei simply nodded as he started the engine and drove while the rest did not even try to hide the smiles on their faces.

They drove for a while in peaceful silence until Heero broke it, "So…where are we going now?"

Before Quatre could say anything, Trowa cut in. "I just received a call from Noin. She's telling us to go to the Jasmine Tea House."

"Did she say why?" Wu Fei asked as made a turn towards the tea house.

"She says that Iria has just arrived here in Japan and that she wants to see Quatre."

No one else said anything after that choosing to look outside than at Quatre. Iria is Quatre's older sister and is currently the one handling the Winner Corporation. She's rarely seen by her siblings due to her busy schedule but whenever she and Quatre met he would always come out with a scowl and no one would be able to approach him for the duration of the day.

With a heavy sigh, Quatre stepped out of the van that was parked outside the tea house. He couldn't see inside the shop due to the heavily tinted windows but he could tell the lone silhouette inside the shop was none other than his sister's.

"Quatre, do you want us to come with you?" Duo offered, fearing the effects of the two siblings' meeting.

"It's fine, Duo. I think I'll be fine. You guys head home."

Wu Fei gave a brief nod to Quatre being driving off, "This is bad."

"Things are always bad whenever Iria is involved." Heero added.

SsSsSsSsS

A small chime sound signaled the entrance of another customer who was immediately assisted towards a table where a woman with short brown hair was already drinking tea. Iria smiled as she set the cup down, and in an instant the other person rose to pour tea into the waiting cup. "So where is he?"

"It seems like my little brother will not be coming in today. I apologize."

"Oh no, it's fine. It's my fault, I'm the one who wanted to see him. I'm sure he must be busy doing something else."

Iria smiled at her guest, "In the meantime why don't we just eat and talk. So tell me, what have you been up to, Sylvia?"

SsSsSsSsS

Quatre hurried towards The Antique Bakery as soon as he received a message from Dorothy telling him to meet her there. The small pastry shop was not so far from the tea house where he had been dropped off so it didn't take him long to get there.

The small bell chimed as soon as he entered and he was immediately greeted by the garçon whom he waived off as he found Dorothy sitting on one of the tables. He smiled at the girl who gave him a light glare, "Aw, don't be like that. Didn't you say you wanted to meet with me?"

"I did. Then I remembered what happened in the park."

"So where is Yamamoto?"

"How'd you know his name?" Dorothy asked but Quatre chose that opportunity to look at the menu and call for the garçon to give his very long order. As soon he was done he turned to her with a smile on his face as if her date's name was not mentioned. "Listen, I know what you did earlier and why you did it."

When Quatre didn't say anything, Dorothy continued, "I only went out with Kakeru because grandpa told me to, that's all, so you don't have to be worried or act all jealous."

"I wasn't jealous."

"You were following us the entire time with a tiger costume!" Dorothy answered with a grin on her face, she was enjoying Quatre's embarrassed blush. "If it'll make you feel better I told him I'm already seeing someone."

Quatre couldn't help but smile as a warm feeling came over him with Dorothy's words. They continued to look at one another with gentle smiles on their faces until Quatre's order arrived. The waiter laid down Quatre's _cassis_ and a _mousse fromage_ which he ordered for Dorothy.

Dorothy took the _mousse fromage_ and smiled in gratitude at the waiter and Quatre. "How'd you know I was going to order this one?"

"I just thought you'd choose this one because of the strawberries. Wow, this cassis is great!"

"This is one of my favorite cafés, they make very good cakes here and the atmosphere is very warm."

The two continued to eat their cakes as Dorothy talked about her date, much to Quatre's displeasure. "Dorothy, I hope you know that it's not proper manners to talk about a guy you dated with your boyfriend."

"I told you, you have nothing to worry about. Besides he's batting for the same team as I am." Dorothy answered as she swiped her fork at Quatre's cake.

"You mean –" Dorothy took another swipe at Quatre's cake while he was still distracted with the revelation. 'Well…that wasn't in the profile Trowa gave me.'

"Yup!" She answered as she blissfully ate the cassis, "He says you're cute."

"How did he know what I look like?"

"Oh I showed him a picture of you… and he said you were quite good-looking."

"I see, so you were showing me off?" Quatre teased with a big grin on his face and Dorothy had to resist the urge to smack him to get the grin off. But she held back considering the grin looked very good on him.

"I was- was not! He simply asked to see and so I showed him those photos of yourself that you took on my phone!" Dorothy replied as she got a larger portion of Quatre's snack.

Quatre simply nodded with the grin still in place and returned to his cake only to find that it was significantly smaller. "If you want, I don't mind switching cakes with you."

"No, no, that's okay. I just wanted to taste it. I've never tried any of their other cakes aside for this one… I don't normally try their new flavors."

Quatre smiled in understanding and decided to take a swipe of the fromage as payment, "This is nice."

"It sure is. The texture is wonderful and –"

"I meant us just spending time like this." Quatre clarified as he leveled his gaze at his date, "I don't remember us having a date like this one."

"Yeah… I think this is our first proper date." Dorothy couldn't help but smile at the memory of their first disastrous date and the other times that they spent together. Somehow after so many weeks she can say that finally feels calm and comfortable around him.

"And we have your grandfather and Kakeru to thank for it."

"Speaking of grandfather, I'd better get going. I told him that I'd be home before dinner time." Dorothy muttered as she checked her watch.

"I'll drive you."

"You can't. I'm not supposed to be seeing you, remember?"

"Then I'll drop you a few blocks off."

Dorothy seemed to think about it for a while before giving Quatre a nod of approval. Quatre immediately settled their bill at the counter. He quickly returned to their table and offered his hand to Dorothy, which she took. The two of them walked out of the café, their hands still intertwined.

"So…where's your car?"

A few minutes later, a young couple outside Antique Bakery are seen to be having a hard time hailing a cab. The male seems to be annoyed while his companion seems to laughing at him for something.

"Next time, before you offer someone a ride, maybe you should make sure you actually have a car with you."

Quatre didn't respond as his embarrassment over the incident just won't ebb. 'For once, just once I wish we could actually have a perfect date!'

As soon as a cab stopped in front of them they quickly entered, Quatre barked the directions and promptly kept his eyes glued to his window. Sensing Quatre's irritation, Dorothy stifled her laughter as she moved closer to lean on Quatre's shoulder causing Quatre to look at her. "But I like this better."

Quatre smiled in agreement as he wrapped his arm around Dorothy allowing her to sleep on his chest instead. "Yeah…this is much better."

The ride had gone much quicker than they had expected and as much as Quatre wanted to walk Dorothy to her house he knew that Dermail would only scold her for disobeying him. "Dorothy, I'm sorry about what I did earlier. I should've trusted you."

"I understand. Things weren't clear between us… but now you know that you have nothing to worry about, right?"

Feeling playful Quatre decided to test the waters a bit, "Well… I would feel much more at peace if I had some more proof…"

Dorothy gave Quatre a stern look which made him immediately regret his words. It was a glare stern enough to make the other boy cringe, awaiting the scolding that was about to follow, but the only thing that came was quick peck on his cheek and the sound of footsteps running away.

Meanwhile in the Winner Manor, Quatre's sisters and friends are all in the main library waiting for Quatre to return from his meeting with Iria. All of them were expecting him to be in a foul mood so when they heard the door opening they immediately hurried to greet him only to find Iria at the door accompanied by a young woman.

"Well, isn't this such a wonderful welcome." Iria smiled at her sisters, who one by one approached her to give her a kiss on the cheek. After a few minutes have passed due to the required greeting that they each had to give, Iria settled herself before introducing her guest, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Sylvia Noventa. She'll be staying with us from now on."

The young girl gave a polite bow to everyone in the house, "It's nice meeting all of you. I am Sylvia Noventa."

"Noin, if you could please take Sylvia to one of the guest rooms? I'm sure she's tired from the travel." Iria ordered, her eyes still fixed on everyone who was probably wondering about the girl's identity aside from her name.

Noin nodded, took Sylvia's bags and led the way upstairs to one of the available guest rooms.

"Iria, is she your new assistant? She seems pretty young to be an assistant." Trowa inquired.

Iria simply laughed as she removed her blazer, "No, Trowa. Sylvia is not my assistant. She's Quatre's fiancée."

**Author's Note:**

To avoid confusion, I decided to write the name, Kakeru Yamamoto, in Western format.

Antique Bakery is an anime/manga/drama if you want you can check out their website for an idea of the place and the desserts mentioned.

And yes…I'm alive! Hopefully, I'll be able to update more now that I'm no longer studying! Woohoo! I hope my job will allow me that luxury of more writing time.^^ And big thanks to my editor who's always quick with the editing – Jin!


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